A very discreet answer, said my mother; just such a one as I would have dictated to you, if I had been at your elbow. I believe we may venture to suppose, that Mrs Sidney _has_ no prepossessions; and as this is as handsome an offer as can possibly be made, I have no objections (if you have none, my dear) to admit Mr Faulkland upon the terms he proposes. What answer ought I to have made, Cecilia? Why, to be sure, just the one I _did_ make--I have _no_ prepossessions, madam, looking down and blushing, till it actually pained me, for I was really startled. My Cecilia knows I am not a prude. My dear! cry'd my mother, and took me by the hand-- Poor Sidney, said Sir George, how you are to be pitied! Mr Faulkland purposes waiting on you in the afternoon, if he is not _forbid_; and he looked so teazingly sly, that my mother bid him leave off his _pranks_. The day is ever--Mr Faulkland spent the evening with us; no other company but our own family. My mother likes him better even than before--Thy _mother_--disingenuous girl! why dost thou not speak thy _own_ sentiments! (There is an apostrophe for thy use, my Cecilia). Well then, _my_ sentiments you shall have; you have an undoubted right to know them on all subjects, but particularly on this interesting one. I _do_ think Mr Faulkland the most amiable of men; and if my heart were (happily for me it is not) _very_ susceptible of tender impressions, I really believe I should in time be absolutely in love with him. This confession will not satisfy you: may be it is not enough--yet, in truth, Cecilia, it is all that at present I can afford you. The thoughts of the aukward figure I should make in the evening visit, sat heavy on my spirits all day.--Can you conceive any thing more distressing than the situation of a poor girl, receiving the visit of a man, who, for the first time, comes professedly as her admirer? I had conceived a frightful idea of such an interview, having formed my notions of it only from romances, where set speeches of an ell long are made by the lover, and answers of a proportionable size are returned in form by the lady. But Mr Faulkland soon delivered me from my anxiety. His easy, but incomparably polite and sensible freedom of address, quickly made me lose my ridiculous fears.--He made no other use of this visit, than to recommend himself more strongly to our esteem, by such means as proved how well he deserved it. If he was particular to me, either in his looks or manner, it was under the regulation of such a nice decorum, that I (who supposed I must have sunk with downright confusion) was hardly disconcerted during the whole visit. _June 10_