A Night at the Pantheon — Evelina, Or, the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World

The last London letter is written on a packing day, and Evelina asks Villars to send his thoughts on to Howard Grove. At eight the Mirvans go to the Pantheon without Madame Duval, who is in the city. The building is magnificent and, to Evelina, more like a chapel than a pleasure house, so she cannot be as gay there as at Ranelagh. Sir Clement is the first person they see. He joins them for the evening with his usual ease, and with no visible shame for the chariot. She wishes she had not forgiven him. The concert is good, and almost nobody listens.

Lord Orville does not appear until the tea-room, in a large party that includes Mr. Lovel. Evelina wants to thank him for binding Lovel to silence about the ball, and she never gets a sentence Willoughby does not lean in to catch. At the same table a man stares through tea, then asks aloud enough for the table to hear who that lovely creature is. Willoughby answers, "your Lordship." Rank, she sees, is no promise of manners. Talk of the building becomes talk of faces. Orville will not let architecture cancel the women, and he bows to them as goddesses. The Captain prices a sight at half a guinea, calls the girls parrots when they praise the opera, and orders Maria not to show a taste of her own in front of him. The rebuke silences them.

When the company rises for Ranelagh, the unnamed lord takes Evelina's hand and pays her compliments as if she were a goddess and he a pagan, then takes the hand again whenever he can. Orville watches with a gravity that unsettles her. Lovel bows as if he has only just noticed her, which at least tells her the old attack is over. The Captain refuses a second outing and threatens that if one place is not enough tonight they shall have none tomorrow. They agree to go home. At the coach the lord takes her hand ahead of Willoughby, who looks provoked and leads Mrs. Mirvan. Orville asks about their leaving, speaks civilly, and goes off grave. The lord stays long enough that she cannot hear what Orville said, and she thinks him displeased by that particular attention.

At home they are low-spirited, until Orville calls to take leave before they quit town. Mrs. Mirvan says they are going into the country with no plan to return. His concern is so serious that Evelina can hardly forbear being sorry for herself. Howard Grove, now to include the Captain and Madame Duval, promises little pleasure. Sir Clement arrives before Orville has gone, trying to say that his regret is entirely on her account. The Captain invites him to the Grove in front of Orville, who is not included. Orville takes his leave. She will not go downstairs until Sir Clement is gone.