" During these attacks,
Euphemia reclined pompously on a sofa, and not deigning a reply,
repelled them with much conceit and haughtiness.
Miss Beaufort remained above an hour alone in her chamber before she
ventured to go near her aunt. Hurt to the soul that the idle folly of
Euphemia should have aroused a terror which had completely unveiled
to the eyes of that inconsiderate girl the empire which Thaddeus held
over her fate, Mary, overwhelmed with shame, and arraigning her easy
credulity, threw herself on her bed.
Horror-struck at hearing he was led along the streets in chains, she
could have no other idea but that, betrayed into the commission of
some dreadful deed, he had become amenable to the laws, and might
suffer an ignominious death. Those thoughts having rushed at once on
her heart, deprived her of self-command. In the conviction of some
fatal rencontre, she felt as if her life, her honor, her soul, were
annihilated. And when, in consequence of her agonies, Euphemia
confessed that she had in this last matter told a falsehood, the
sudden peace to her soul had for an instant assumed the appearance of
insensibility.
Before Miss Beaufort quitted her room, various plans were suggested
by her anxiety and inexperience, how to release the object of her
thoughts. She found no hesitation in believing him poor, and perhaps
rendered wretchedly so by the burden of that sick friend, who, she
suspected, might be a near relation.
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