Cecilia; Or, Memoirs of an Heiress — Volume 3Burney, Fanny
General
Cecilia; Or, Memoirs of an Heiress — Volume 3
Burney, Fanny
England -- Fiction; Inheritance and succession -- Fiction; Love stories; Young women -- Fiction
The tender-hearted Henrietta, in returning to her new friends, gave way,
with artless openness, to the violence of untamed grief; but finding Mr
Arnott as wretched as herself, the sympathy Cecilia had foreseen soon
endeared them to each other, while the little interest taken in either
by Mrs Harrel, made them almost inseparable companions.
Mrs Harrel, wearied by their melancholy, and sick of retirement, took
the earliest opportunity that was offered her of changing her situation;
she married very soon a man of fortune in the neighbourhood, and,
quickly forgetting all the past, thoughtlessly began the world again,
with new hopes, new connections,--new equipages and new engagements!
Henrietta was then obliged to go again to her mother, where, though
deprived of all the indulgencies to which she was now become familiar,
she was not more hurt by the separation than Mr Arnott. So sad and so
solitary his house seemed in her absence, that he soon followed her to
town, and returned not till he carried her back its mistress. And there
the gentle gratitude of her soft and feeling heart, engaged from the
worthy Mr Arnott the tenderest affection, and, in time, healed the wound
of his early and hopeless passion.
The injudicious, the volatile, yet noble-minded Belfield, to whose
mutable and enterprising disposition life seemed always rather beginning
than progressive, roved from employment to employment, and from public
life to retirement, soured with the world, and discontented with
himself, till vanquished, at length, by the constant friendship of
Delvile, he consented to accept his good offices in again entering the
army; and, being fortunately ordered out upon foreign service, his hopes
were revived by ambition, and his prospects were brightened by a view of
future honour.
The wretched Monckton, dupe of his own cunning and artifices, still
lived in lingering misery, doubtful which was most acute, the pain of
his wound and confinement, or of his defeat and disappointment. Led on
by a vain belief that he had parts to conquer all difficulties, he had
indulged without restraint a passion in which interest was seconded by
inclination. Allured by such fascinating powers, he shortly suffered
nothing to stop his course; and though when he began his career he would
have started at the mention of actual dishonour, long before it was
concluded, neither treachery nor perjury were regarded by him as
stumbling blocks.
All fear of failing was lost in vanity, all sense of probity was sunk in
interest, all scruples of conscience were left behind by the heat of the
chace. Yet the unforeseen and melancholy catastrophe of his long arts,
illustrated in his despite what his principles had obscured, that
even in worldly pursuits where fraud out-runs integrity, failure joins
dishonour to loss, and disappointment excites triumph instead of pity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account