MY Sweet Maria will be much surprised, and I am willing to flatter
myself, concerned, when, instead of her friend, she receives this
letter;-this cold, this inanimate letter, which will but ill express
the feelings of the heart which indites it.
When I wrote to you last Friday, I was in hourly expectation of
seeing Mrs. Clinton, with whom I intended to have set out for Howard
Grove. Mrs. Clinton came; but my plan was necessarily altered, for she brought me a letter,-the sweetest that ever was penned, from the best and kindest friend that ever orphan was blessed with, requiring my immediate attendance at Berry Hill.
I obeyed,-and pardon me if I own I obeyed without reluctance: after
so long a separation, should I not else have been the most ungrateful
of mortals?-And yet,-oh, Maria! though I wished to leave London, the gratification of my wish afforded me no happiness! and though I felt an impatience inexpressible to return hither, no words, no language, can explain the heaviness of heart with which I made the journey. I believe you would hardly have known me;-indeed, I hardly know myself. Perhaps, had I first seen you, in your kind and sympathizing bosom I might have ventured to have reposed every secret of my soul;-and then-but let me pursue my journal.
Mrs. Clinton delivered Madame Duval a letter from Mr. Villars, which
requested her leave for my return; and, indeed, it was very readily
accorded: yet, when she found, by my willingness to quit town that
M. Du Bois was really indifferent to me, she somewhat softened in my
favour; and declared, that, but for punishing his folly in thinking
of such a child, she would not have consented to my being again buried
in the country.
All the Branghtons called to take leave of me; but I will not write
a word more about them: indeed I cannot, with any patience, think of
that family, to whose forwardness and impertinence is owing all the
uneasiness I at this moment suffer!
So great was the depression of my spirits upon the road, that it was
with great difficulty I could persuade the worthy Mrs. Clinton I was
not ill; but, alas! the situation of my mind was such as would have
rendered any mere bodily pain, by comparison, even enviable!
And yet, when we arrived at Berry Hill,-when the chaise stopped at this
place,-how did my heart throb with joy!-and when, through the window, I beheld the dearest, the most venerable of men, with uplifted hands, returning, as I doubt not, thanks for my safe arrival,-good God! I thought it would have burst my bosom!-I opened the chaise-door myself; I flew,-for my feet did not seem to touch the ground,-into the parlour: he had risen to meet me; but the moment I appeared he sunk into his chair, uttering, with a deep sigh, though his face beamed with delight, "My God, I thank thee!"
I sprung forward; and, with a pleasure that bordered upon agony, I
embraced his knees, I kissed his hands, I wept over them, but could not
speak: while he, now raising his eyes in thankfulness towards heaven, now bowing down his reverend head, and folding me in his arms, could scarce articulate the blessings with which his kind and benevolent heart overflowed.
O, Miss Mirvan, to be so beloved by the best of men,-should I not be
happy?-Should I have one wish save that of meriting his goodness?-Yet
think me not ungrateful; indeed I am not, although the internal
sadness of my mind unfits me, at present, for enjoying as I ought
the bounties of Providence.
I cannot journalize, cannot arrange my ideas into order.
How little has situation to do with happiness! I had flattered
myself, that, when restored to Berry Hill, I should be restored
to tranquillity: far otherwise have I found it, for never yet had
tranquillity and Evelina so little intercourse.
I blush for what I have written. Can you, Maria, forgive my
gravity? but I restrain it so much, and so painfully, in the presence
of Mr. Villars, that I know not how to deny myself the consolation
of indulging it to you.
Adieu, my dear Miss Mirvan.
Yet one thing I must add: do not let the seriousness of this letter
deceive you; do not impute to a wrong cause the melancholy I confess, by supposing that the heart of your friend mourns a too great susceptibility: no, indeed! believe me it never was, never can be, more assuredly her own than at this moment. So witness in all truth, Your affectionate, EVELINA.