It was a very afflicting thing to him, he
told the doctor, to deny any request that was made to him, especially by
a lady: but he thought he ought in conscience and honour to forbear
giving the shadow of an expectation that might be improved into hope,
where none was intended to be given. Heaven, he said, had, for laudable
ends, implanted such a regard in the sexes towards each other, that both
man and woman who hoped to be innocent, could not be too circumspect in
relation to the friendships they were so ready to contract with each
other. He thought he had gone a great way, in recommending an intimacy
between her and his sisters, considering her views, her spirit, her
perseverance, and the free avowal of her regard for him, and her menaces
on his supposed neglect of her. And yet, as she had come over, and he
was obliged to leave England so soon after her arrival; he thought he
could not do less: and he hoped his sisters, from whose example she might
be benefited, would, while she behaved prudently, cultivate her
acquaintance.
The doctor tells me, that now Lady Olivia is so unexpectedly come hither
in person, he thinks it best to decline giving me, as he had once
intended, her history at large; but will leave so much of it as may
satisfy my curiosity, to be gathered from my own observation; and not
only from the violence and haughtiness of her temper, but from the
freedom of her declarations.
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