Chapter 33

On taking leave of Mrs. Fitzgerald, Emily and her aunt settled a plan of
correspondence; the deserted situation of this young woman having created
great interest in the breasts of her new friends. General M'Carthy had
returned to Spain without receding from his original proposal, and his
niece was left to mourn her early departure from one of the most solemn
duties of life.

Mr. Benfield, thwarted in one of his most favorite schemes of happiness
for the residue of his life, obstinately refused to make one of the party
at Bath; and Ives and Clara having returned to Bolton, the remainder of
the Moseleys arrived at the lodgings of John a very few days after the
interview of the preceding chapter, with hearts ill qualified to enter
into the gaieties of the place, though, in obedience to the wishes of Lady
Moseley, to see and to be seen once more on that great theatre of
fashionable amusement.

The friends of the family who had known them in times past were numerous,
and were glad to renew their acquaintance with those they had always
esteemed; so that they found themselves immediately surrounded by a circle
of smiling faces and dashing equipages.

Sir William Harris, the proprietor of the deanery, and a former neighbor,
with his showy daughter, were amongst the first to visit them. Sir William
was a man of handsome estate and unexceptionable character, but entirely
governed by the whims and desires of his only child. Caroline Harris
wanted neither sense nor beauty, but expecting a fortune, she had placed
her views too high. She at first aimed at the peerage; and while she felt
herself entitled to suit her taste as well as her ambition, had failed of
her object by ill-concealed efforts to attain it. She had justly acquired
the reputation of the reverse of a coquette or yet of a prude; still she
had never received an offer, and at the age of twenty-six, had now begun
to lower her thoughts to the commonalty. Her fortune would have easily
obtained her husband here, but she was determined to pick amongst the
lower supporters of the aristocracy of the nation. With the Moseleys she
had been early acquainted, though some years their senior; a circumstance,
however, to which she took care never to allude unnecessarily.

The meeting between Grace and the Moseleys was tender and sincere. John's
countenance glowed with delight, as he saw his future wife folded
successively in the arms of those he loved, and Grace's tears and blushes
added twofold charms to her native beauty. Jane relaxed from her reserve
to receive her future sister, and determined with herself to appear in the
world, in order to show Sir Henry Egerton that she did not feel the blow
he had inflicted as severely as the truth might have proved.