Evelina, Or, the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World Ch. 65 Summary

Summary

She dates from Clifton and leads with the roof. She is an inmate of the same house as Lord Orville, and without that the visit would be disagreeable, because of the light the house puts her in. While he was speaking to her, Lady Louisa asked Lovel who that was. He could not absolutely say. He only knew she was a kind of toad-eater, first seen last spring attending Miss Mirvan of Kent. Selwyn's advice is to pay him court: malicious, but fashionable, and able to do harm in the great world. Evelina would disdain herself as much as she disdains him if she flattered a man she scorns.

Beaumont receives them with civility, Orville with something more, Louisa scarcely at all. After tea the ladies play cards. He does not, and she cannot, so the evening is theirs until supper. The constraint wears away. The bet, to his satisfaction, has dropped from a thousand pounds to a hundred, to be settled by a race between two old women, each past eighty. He is charmed to meet someone not yet trained by custom to forget reason. Fashion, he says, lets the greatest absurdities pass uncensured. He spoke openly because he is no friend to gaming, and he expects Coverley's lampoon rather than success. He reads the New Bath Guide with her until supper. On the stairs Louisa asks if he was engaged. He says he has been, and bows to Evelina.

Three days later the roof has done what a thousand meetings could not. His attention is uniform, and she trusts it comes from the same generosity that resented her being neglected. She is not merely easy with him. She is gay. On walks he keeps beside her. In books he marks the passages and asks what she thinks. At table he sits next to her. Selwyn, her only other friend in the house, is too deep in talk to notice the silent one, so he treats Evelina as a helpless stranger owed protection. She hopes the old depreciating opinion has turned. Four happy days would repay months of sorrow. The house still has Lovel's name for her. He has the chair beside her.

In this chapter:Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Refusing Strategic Flattery

Advice to court a person who has already harmed your name is a test, not a favour. Lovel tells Lady Louisa that Evelina is a toad-eater, and Selwyn says to pay him court because he is fashionable and can do harm.

When that advice arrives, write down the slur and the compliment you will not pay, and do not pay it.

This chapter

Inside the Mind: Mr. Lovel

While Orville is actually speaking with her, Lovel tells Lady Louisa what the girl is: a toad-eater who attended the Mirvans in the spring. The old ball has been translated into a servant's role. He does not need her present to finish the portrait. Absence is his advantage, and Louisa is the ear he wants.

Continue this thoughtThe Sentence She Was Not In

Coming Up in Chapter 66

Before breakfast, meaning a long walk in the old Berry Hill manner, Evelina shuts the garden gate and meets Mr Macartney, still in mourning. He came to Bristol only yesterday. He has traced her to Clifton, and he says the sole motive of the journey was to see her.

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Chapter 65

Finding Your Place Among the Elite

LETTER LXV. EVELINA IN CONTINUATION. Clifton, Sept. 20th. HERE I am, my dear Sir, under the same roof, and an inmate of the same house as Lord Orville! Indeed, if this were not the case, my situation would be very disagreeable, as you will easily believe, when I tell you the light in which I am generally considered. "My dear," said Mrs. Selwyn, "did you ever before meet with that egregious fop, Lovel?" I very readily satisfied her as to my acquaintance with him. "O, then," said she, "I am the less surprised at his ill-nature, since he has already…

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Theme-by-theme analyses that connect this book to modern life skills.

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Finding Your Place Among the Elite

Summary

Why This Matters