Relieved by this effusion of sorrow, her spirit took its natural bias, and though disappointed in her wishes of gaining permission to write to her _brother_ Horace, it may be at least conjectured, that the opposition she had been unable to conquer, did the lover no injury; for it is most certain, that she attributed Mr. Hardcastle’s conduct to a pride and scrupulosity far removed from good sense, and deficient in kindness to her. CHAP. IV. Miss Cowley lost nothing of her firmness in relating the above conversation to her friend Lucy. “I must think Mr. Hardcastle too rigid,” said she, “in prohibiting all correspondence between me and Horace; but I will obey him as my father. I leave you, my dear Lucy, but it is to defeat malice. The honour of Mr. Hardcastle is not less dear to me than my own, and I will prove to the world that I am qualified to judge, and to determine. I have now duties before me that will give solidity to my mind. My father has left two children besides myself, and convinced as I am, that Flamall is a villain, I will omit no occasion of detecting his artifices. Sheltered under this roof, I can never do this; but by bending to his authority I may make him tremble. Should I fail in this purpose, I am still secure; for Horace will not want my father’s wealth to make him happy; and when I am of age, it will depend on you to determine whether Mrs. Dawson’s legacy to her grand-daughter is to be _a curse_.” Poor Lucy, unable to reply, only wept, and saw with bitter regret her friend’s preparations for leaving Heathcot. A letter from Sir Murdock Marlain hastened her departure; and Mrs. Allen and Miss Cowley were escorted to London by Mr. Hardcastle a few days previous to the baronet’s arrival, and took up their temporary abode at Counsellor Steadman’s. Few of my readers will refuse their sympathy to the dejected and faithful guardian during this anxious period. With a father’s apprehensions, Mr. Hardcastle saw youth and beauty torn from his protecting care; and with anguish of soul, did he now contemplate the traits of his pupil’s mind, and the charms of her person; but of this person no more will be said, than applying to Rachel Cowley the poet’s interrogation, Can Virgil’s verse, can Raphel’s touch impart, Those finer features of the feeling heart, Those tend’rer tints, that shun the careless eye, And in the world’s contagious circle die? _Rogers’s Pleasures of Memory_.