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308
DUTY AND INCLINATION.

pleased with such a mark of politeness, "I am always gratified, as an old family man, to partake of pleasures in which my wife and daughter share, and therefore willingly, in behalf of myself and them, accept the invitation," promising, at the same time, to be with him at the place and hour appointed the following morning.

In concurrence with the advice of Mrs. Herbert, ever since the affair of Mr. Harcourt, and the fear of again meeting him, Rosilia had confined herself to the house, except, indeed, when the necessity of air and exercise induced her to walk with either, or both her parents, in some adjacent nursery-gardens. This extreme seclusion, voluntarily imposed upon herself, caused her parents to rejoice that the excursion proposed by Sir Howard would open to her some recreation—aware how much the taste of Rosilia inclined to such diversions, in preference to those more splendid the town afforded.

Formed to indulge in the most exquisite sensations of delight, she was ever quickly alive to those of which youth, health and innocence allowed her to partake. Accustomed to an invariable monotony of existence, unlike those satiated by continual indulgence, the most simple pleasures gave zest to Rosilia, and she then, when her father announced the engagement he had made, looked