Charlotte, on the other hand, was engrossed by reflections vastly different from those she was accustomed to entertain:—­never woman was more free from vanity, or thought less of the power of her charms, yet she could not hinder herself from thinking there was somewhat in the behaviour of Natura, in his last visit, that denoted a regard beyond an ordinary friendship for her.—­This apprehension, at first, a little startled her, or at least she imagined it did so, and she said to herself, ’If he should really harbour any inclinations for me of that sort, how unhappy should I be in being obliged to break off my acquaintance with a person so every way agreeable to me; and to continue it, would be to countenance a passion I have determined never to give the least attention to.’—­’Yet wherefore did I determine?’ pursued she, with a sigh, ’but because I found the generality of men mere wandering, vague, inconstant creatures;—­were guided only by fancy;—­never consulted their judgment, whether the object they pretended to admire, had any real merit or not, and often too treated those worst who had the best claim to their esteem;—­besides, one seldom finds a man whose person and qualifications are every way suited to one’s liking:—­Natura is certainly such as I should wish a husband to be, if I were inclined to marry again;—­I have not taken a vow of celibacy, and have nobody to controul my actions’:—­’then,’ said she again, ’what foolish imaginations comes into my head; perhaps he has not the least thought of me in the way I am dreaming of;—­no, no, he has suffered too much by the imprudence of one woman, to put it in the power of another to treat him in the same manner;—­be trembles at marriage;—­I have heard him declare it, and I am deviating into a vanity I never before was guilty of.’

She was debating in this fashion within herself, when Natura came to pay his morning visit:  she blushed at his approach, conscious of the meditations she had been in on his account.—­He, full of the sentiments I have described, saluted her with an air more grave and timid than he had been accustomed, and which all who are judges of the tender passion, know to be the surest symptom of it.—­They sat down, and on his beginning to renew some discourse concerning the counsellor’s pretensions, she desired him to forbear so disagreeable a topic, telling him at the same time, he could say nothing else she would not listen to with satisfaction.—­’How, madam,’ cried he, ’are you sure of that?—­Alas, you little know what passes in my heart, or you would not permit me this toleration.’  This might have been sufficient to make some women convinced of the truth; but Charlotte either fearful of being deceived by her own vanity, or willing he should be more explicit, answered, ’I have too high an opinion of your good sense, and too flattering an idea of your friendship to me, to imagine your heart will ever suggest any thing which would be offensive to me from your tongue.’