She instantly stopt, and he advanced, his hat in his hand, and his
whole air indicating he sought not to be disguised.

Surprised at this sudden change of behaviour, she then stept forward to
meet him, accompanied by her friends: but when they came up to each
other, she checked her desire of speaking, to leave him fully at
liberty to make himself known, or keep concealed.

He bowed with a look of assumed gaiety and ease, but the deep scarlet
that tinged his whole face manifested his internal confusion; and in a
voice that attempted to sound lively, though its tremulous accents
betrayed uneasiness and distress, he exclaimed, with a forced smile,
"Is it possible Miss Beverley can deign to notice a poor miserable day-
labourer such as I am? how will she be justified in the beau monde,
when even the sight of such a wretch ought to fill her with horror?
Henceforth let hysterics be blown to the winds, and let nerves be
discarded from the female vocabulary, since a lady so young and fair
can stand this shock without hartshorn or fainting!"

"I am happy," answered Cecilia, "to find your spirits so good; yet my
own, I must confess, are not raised by seeing you in this strange
situation."

"My spirits!" cried he, with an air of defiance, "never were they
better, never so good as at this moment. Strange as seems my situation,
it is all that I wish; I have found out, at last, the true secret of
happiness! that secret which so long I pursued in vain, but which
always eluded my grasp, till the instant of despair arrived, when,
slackening my pace, I gave it up as a phantom. Go from me, I cried, I
will be cheated no more! thou airy bubble! thou fleeting shadow! I will