( 235 )
"Ah, Mr. Harleigh," said Mrs.Maple, "when shall we bring that to bear?"
"She never pronounces a positive rejection," answered Harleigh, "yet I make no progress in my peace-offerings."
He would then have entered more fully upon that subject, in the hope of escaping from the other: Mrs. Maple, however, never forgot her anger but for her interest; and Selina was forced to be the messenger of dismission.
She found Ellis so revived, that to destroy her rising tranquillity would have been a task nearly impossible, had Selina possessed as much consideration as good humour. But she was one amongst the many in whom reflection never precedes speech, and therefore, though sincerely sorry, she denounced, without hesitating, the sentence of Mrs. Maple.
Ellis was struck with the deepest dismay, to be robbed thus of all refuge, at the very moment when she flattered herself that new friends, perhaps a new
