LETITIA

Be patient, Charlotte; your head so runs upon
beaux. Why, she read Sir Charles Grandison, Clarissa
Harlow, Shenstone, and the Sentimental Journey; and
between whiles, as I said, Billy's letters. But, as her
taste improved, her love declined. The contrast was
so striking betwixt the good sense of her books and
the flimsiness of her love-letters, that she discovered
she had unthinkingly engaged her hand without her
heart; and then the whole transaction, managed by
the old folks, now appeared so unsentimental, and
looked so like bargaining for a bale of goods, that she
found she ought to have rejected, according to every
rule of romance, even the man of her choice, if im-
posed upon her in that manner. Clary Harlow
would have scorned such a match.


CHARLOTTE

Well, how was it on Mr. Dimple's return? Did he
meet a more favourable reception than his letters?


LETITIA

Much the same. She spoke of him with respect