Therein, madam, replied Mrs. Jennings, I must refer to better judgment than my own, and solicit to be ruled by your instruction and advice. I am a solitary woman, and having no other influence or authority over her than what her prudence and good will voluntarily concede to me, I must confess I am not in myself sufficient to encounter every species of danger, that may possibly occur to alarm me for her sake, and permit me to add for the sake of one other person also, whom I fear I have too far offended ever to be forgiven. If you allude to my nephew, said Cecilia, I beg of you to be explicit. I own it is to him that I allude, she replied, and as his resentment is now of so long standing, I have reason to fear I shall never be forgiven. I confess to you, madam, that when I thought I had discovered an attachment forming between your nephew and my humble charge, I considered it as my duty to stop it in its beginning, and prevent their interviews. This I did, when he last came to my house, and wished to see Amelia Jones for the purpose of presenting to her a miniature picture of her father, sent by Mrs. De Lancaster, to which he had added a rich and elegant chain of gold, which I believe was of his own procuring. Upon my hesitating to give him immediate admission to Amelia, he left my house in displeasure, and from that time to this neither myself, nor Amelia to my knowledge, have either seen him, or been noticed by him in the slightest degree. If, unfortunately for her, she is involved in an offence, of which I alone was guilty, you see, madam, how improper it will be for her, but more especially for me, to remain any longer in this house, where we must consider ourselves unwelcome to young Mr. De Lancaster at least, and probably to others, whom I need not name. I should add, that for Amelia’s sake it behoves us to be gone, as she, poor child, is distressed by his displeasure to a degree, which, as you have witnessed, renders her unfit to appear even in your presence, who are all condescension and benevolence. This being the case, is it for me to advise what is further to be done for Miss Jones’s education? Am I, in short, any longer the proper person to conduct it? I humbly conceive I am not.