The Uninvited Baronet — Evelina, Or, the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World

Evelina writes Villars from Holborn on June 18th, the morning after Vauxhall. Madame Duval rises late; at one o'clock the Branghtons, Smith, and Du Bois call to enquire after their healths. Smith and Miss Branghton quickly turn the visit into an inquisition about the gentleman from the gardens: Was he the opera escort? What is his name? Is he married? What is his business and income? Evelina answers only that he is Willoughby and that she does not know his profession. Duval bursts out that she hates his name, believing him accomplice with Captain Mirvan in the staged robbery that nearly killed her.

While Duval narrates the Howard Grove hoax to a crowding audience, Sir Clement Willoughby enters without notice. The questioners scramble into chairs with guilty confusion. He bows easily, asks whether Duval has commands for Howard Grove, then turns to Evelina for messages to Miss Mirvan. She refuses. Duval's fury mounts; he affects ignorance, speaks of weather and empty town, and Miss Branghton alone encourages him. When he laments their absence from the Grove, Duval launches into a triumphal harangue: she has found him out, will take no more Tower tales, remembers the masked chariot and ditch, and threatens a constable if he provokes her again.

Sir Clement's embarrassment liberates the company. Smith's envy melts into conceit; young Branghton grins openly as his aunt trims the beau. Willoughby stammers denials on his honour; Duval refuses every explanation. Evelina thinks: is it thus you prize your honour? The Branghtons laugh until he turns on them with angry contempt and they fall silent. He approaches Evelina at the window, asks aloud for respects to Howard Grove, and whispers who these people are and how she came to be so strangely situated. She replies formally and coldly. He kisses her hand, bows, passes the men, and exits in haste.

Evelina expects he will not soon repeat so awkward a visit. Duval exults and wishes Mirvan would call next. Smith, learning Willoughby is a baronet who drove off in a fine chariot, regrets laughing and laments the lost acquaintance. Young Branghton vows he would have asked for his custom; his sister has praised the baronet's quality ever since. Vulgar triumph and social reversal have done nothing to restore Evelina's dignity, yet they have shown her how quickly rooms rewrite power when witnesses change.