Delaying the Inevitable Decision — Evelina, Or, the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World

Evelina writes in haste, so that Mr. Villars will not look for her at once. She had meant to leave Clifton immediately. When she told Mrs. Selwyn, the older woman would not hear of it. To go before an answer arrived about the journey from Paris, Selwyn said, would be highly ridiculous. She insisted that Evelina wait for Villars's next letter.

Evelina hopes he will not be displeased. She says the compliance is rather against her own judgment. What decided her was not a new fact of her own. Selwyn quite overpowered her with the force of her arguments. In place of the journey home, she sets rules for the days she must still spend in the house. She will see very little of Lord Orville. She will never come downstairs before breakfast. She will give up her walks in the garden. She will seat herself next to Mrs. Selwyn. She will not merely avoid his conversation. She will shun his presence. Prudence and resolution, she promises, will keep this short delay from giving Villars any further uneasiness.

She will not leave Clifton until his directions arrive. The woman who meant to go home is staying, and the man she came to avoid is still under the same roof.