when made with the rigid sincerity of secret impartiality: so much
stronger is our reason than our virtue, so much higher our sense of
duty than our performance!

All she had done she now repented, all she had said she disapproved;
her conduct, seldom equal to her notions of right, was now infinitely
below them, and the reproaches of her judgment made her forget for a
while the afflictions which had misled it.

The sorrow to which she had openly given way in the presence of
Delvile, though their total separation but the moment before had been
finally decreed, she considered as a weak effusion of tenderness,
injurious to delicacy, and censurable by propriety. "His power over my
heart," cried she, "it were now, indeed, too late to conceal, but his
power over my understanding it is time to cancel. I am not to be his,
--my own voice has ratified the renunciation, and since I made it to his
mother, it must never, without her consent, be invalidated. Honour,
therefore, to her, and regard for myself, equally command me to fly
him, till I cease to be thus affected by his sight."

When Delvile, therefore, sent up an entreaty that he might be again
admitted into her presence, she returned for answer that she was not
well, and could not see any body.

He then left the house, and, in a few minutes, she received the
following note from him.

_To Miss Beverley_. You drive me from you, Cecilia, tortured with
suspense, and distracted with apprehension, you drive me from you,
certain of my misery, yet leaving me to bear it as I may! I would call