CHAPTER X.
"When nature's blush by custom is wiped off,
And conscience, deaden'd by repeated strokes,
Has into manners naturalized our crimes,
The curse of curses is, our curse to love!"
Young.
Rosilia now looked forward with much solicitude for the period when she should return to the Bower, notwithstanding she dreaded the effects upon her mind of its too great seclusion, and then more particularly, from being deprived of the company of her sister. Yet she wished to escape altogether from the society of those whom she could no longer regard, and whose visits had in consequence become irksome to her.
Her departure from London, however, was not postponed so long as she had expected. Her parents towards the middle of March, took the sudden resolution of repairing to Wales immediately; what could thus have hastened their determination, they did not think proper to reveal to her. Dr. Lovesworth visited at the house more frequently of late, and often regarded her with an expression that marked his interest in her welfare. It seemed as if
