A Guardian's Protective Warning — Evelina, Or, the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World

Villars writes the moment he hears Madame Duval is in England. He had meant to wait until Evelina was back at Howard Grove. He has long dreaded this meeting. To acknowledge her, he believes, will be followed by a claim, and he has foreseen the contest for years.

He tells Evelina not to let the shock crush her spirits. While life is lent him he will devote it to her service, and when Duval fixes a date to leave England he will refuse the journey himself. Attending her grandmother would be improper for Evelina, if not impossible. Until then she must show the respect due a near relation. Duval's failures do not excuse rudeness, and no coldness of manner may reveal the independence he assures her she has. He is more sorry than surprised that Duval stays blind to him. She needs someone else to blame for the transactions she laments.

He will not ask Evelina to withdraw from the Mirvans. That would look like a reproach to Mrs. Mirvan's kindness. He thanks her for letters minute enough to keep him from ignorance, prefers the mistakes of the private ball to fashionable manners at the ridotto, and hopes she will see no more of Sir Clement Willoughby. Lord Orville's good nature, when she used his name, gratified him. He does not want that good nature put on trial again.

She is to look dutiful in Duval's sight. The refusal of France stays in his hands, and so does the blessing he sends toward a gaiety of heart he still traces to innocence.