When Heroes Disappoint Us — Evelina, Or, the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World

The first reading is the trap. A maid brings a note from a footman who will call the next day for an answer. Evelina shuts herself in her room, and the page delights her before she will let it insult her. She walks the floor, unable to compose herself, repeating that she might be loved by Lord Orville. Only the second reading changes the words. Not one sentence can be looked at without a blush, and astonishment turns into indignation.

She copies the note for Maria, because the pain of telling is still better than leaving the charge of mystery unanswered. It thanks her for a letter, calls her a lovely girl, treats a simple apology as the start of a correspondence, and sends a servant to ride post with the reply. She had written, she says, what was due to her own character as much as to his. If she erred, silence would have answered, or pity for her youth. Punishment did not. The high opinion that made her write is the opinion the note destroys. She is almost glad. A longer deception would have gone deeper than she can think of without trembling.

She still will not show Villars the page. She had raised Orville in his mind and cannot bear to pull him down. Everyone remarks that she looks pale and ill. When he praises Orville's manly and honourable conduct in the Marybone affair, her cheeks burn and she cannot change the subject. She will not let the sadness infect a man who deserves her cheer, and she still has no account of a gravity she cannot hide. The letter stays in her keeping while he goes on offering praises she can no longer hear.