CHAPTER XII.
"Alas! I had not render'd up my heart
Had he not loved me first."
Dryden.
We will now leave Rosilia in her sylvan retreat, enjoying the society of her parents, and that of good Doctor Lovesworth, in order to give a short retrospect of what had occurred to Oriana, previously to the late communication she had had with her sister.
For more than two years, Philimore had invariably been the beloved object of her thoughts. If ever tears had bedewed her eye, they had been occasioned by the fond recollection of Philimore. But it was not to be expected that such an intercourse could always exist in secret. Her aunt with some curiosity began at last to observe, not only the numerous letters she received, but also her ill-repressed embarrassment upon those occasions; nor, on the side of Oriana, could the change in her aunt's manners towards her escape observation; by which her situation was rendered so extremely distressing, that she conceived an anxious desire to unburthen her mind, and make to her aunt a full disclosure of all that had hitherto
