house in which Welbeck resided. He was the object of immeasurable
fondness and indulgence. He had sought permission to travel, and, this
being refused by the absurd timidity of his parents, he had twice been
frustrated in attempting to embark for Europe clandestinely. They
ascribed his disappearance to a third and successful attempt of this
kind, and had exercised anxious and unwearied diligence in endeavouring
to trace his footsteps. All their efforts had failed. One motive for
their returning to Europe was the hope of discovering some traces of
him, as they entertained no doubt of his having crossed the ocean. The
vehemence of Mrs. Wentworth's curiosity as to those particulars of his
life and death may be easily conceived. My refusal only heightened this
passion.

Finding me refractory to all her efforts, she at length dismissed me in
anger.




CHAPTER VIII.


This extraordinary interview was now past. Pleasure as well as pain
attended my reflections on it. I adhered to the promise I had
improvidently given to Welbeck, but had excited displeasure, and perhaps
suspicion, in the lady. She would find it hard to account for my
silence. She would probably impute it to perverseness, or imagine it to
flow from some incident connected with the death of Clavering,
calculated to give a new edge to her curiosity.