Tales and Novels — Volume 03 Belinda

It was about a year before he had seen Belinda that Clarence Hervey returned from his travels; he had been in France just before the Revolution, when luxury and dissipation were...

Instead of the open, childish, affectionate familiarity with which Virginia used to meet Clarence Hervey, she now received him with reserved, timid embarrassment. Struck by this...

Two hours after her ladyship had retired to her room, as Belinda was passing by the door to go to her own bedchamber, she heard Lady Delacour call to her.

Aware that her remaining in town at such an unusual season of the year would appear unaccountable to her fashionable acquaintance, Lady Delacour contrived for herself a characte...

Miss Portman was awakened by the ringing of Lady Delacour’s bedchamber bell. She opened her eyes with the confused idea that something disagreeable had happened; and before she...

Though Clarence Hervey was not much disposed to see either Virginia or her father whilst he was in the state of perturbation into which he had been thrown by his interview with...

The only interest that honest people can take in the fate of rogues is in their detection and punishment; the reader, then, will be so far interested in the fate of Mr. Champfor...

“I left off with the true skill of a good story-teller, at the most interesting part--a duel; and yet duels are so common now that they are really vulgar incidents.

Things were in this situation, when one day Marriott made her appearance at her lady’s toilette with a face which at once proclaimed that something had discomposed her, and that...

Belinda and Mr. Vincent could never agree in their definition of the-word _flattery_; so that there were continual complaints on the one hand of a breach of treaty, and, on the...

Curiosity was not, at this instant, the strongest passion in Belinda’s mind. When the carriage stopped at Mrs. Delacour’s door, her heart almost ceased to beat; but she summoned...

Before he left town, Dr. X---- called in Berkeley-square, to see Lady Delacour; he found that she was out of all immediate danger. Miss Portman was sorry that he was obliged to...

Whilst they were at breakfast the next morning in Lady Delacour’s dressing-room, Marriott knocked at the door, and immediately opening it, exclaimed in a joyful tone, “Miss Port...

“Where were we when all this began?” cried Lady Delacour, forcing herself to resume an air of gaiety--“O, masquerade was the order of the day---tragedy or comedy? which suits yo...

“Young, beautiful, graceful; then the deuce take me,” said Dr. X----, “if I give you my opinion of her: for the odds are, that she has a thousand faults, at least, to balance th...

The surgeon who was to attend Lady Delacour was prevented from going to her on the day appointed; he was one of the surgeons of the queen’s household, and his attendance was req...

“I received safely the bank notes for my two hundred guineas, enclosed in your last. But you should never trust unnecessarily in this manner to the post--always, when you are ob...

“So you surrender yourself at discretion, just when I was going to raise the siege in despair,” said Lady Anne: “now I may make my own terms; and the only terms I shall impose a...

“I’ve found it!--I’ve found it, mamma!” cried little Charles Percival, running eagerly into the room with a plant in his hand. “Will you send this in your letter to Helena Delac...

When Belinda got home, Lady Delacour was busy in the library looking over a collection of French plays with the _ci-devant_ Count de N----; a gentleman who possessed such singul...

In the silence of the night, when the hurry of action was over, and the enthusiasm of generosity began to subside, the words, which had escaped from Mr. Vincent in the paroxysm...

The baronet determined the next day upon the grand attack. He waited upon Miss Portman with the certainty of being favourably received; but he was, nevertheless, somewhat embarr...

Mrs. Stanhope, a well-bred woman, accomplished in that branch of knowledge which is called the art of rising in the world, had, with but a small fortune, contrived to live in th...

Lady Delacour’s history, and the manner in which it was related, excited in Belinda’s mind astonishment, pity, admiration, and contempt: astonishment at her inconsistency, pity...

“Do not expect that I should pretend to be sorry for Mr. Vincent,” said Lady Delacour. “Let him be as generous and as penitent as he pleases, I am heartily glad that he is on hi...

They found Lady Anne Percival in the midst of her children, who all turned their healthy, rosy, intelligent faces towards the door, the moment that they heard their father’s voi...

Accustomed to study human nature, Dr. X---- had acquired peculiar sagacity in judging of character. Notwithstanding the address with which Lady Delacour concealed the real motiv...

“And how d’ye go on here, poor child?--Gad! I’m glad you’re alone--expected to find you encompassed by a whole host of the righteous. Give me credit for my courage in coming to...

In his way to St. James’s street, where the wine-merchant lived, Sir Philip Baddely picked up several young men of his acquaintance, who were all eager to witness a trial of _ta...

In some minds, emotions of joy are always connected with feelings of benevolence and generosity. Lady Delacour’s heart expanded with the sensations of friendship and gratitude,...

“Belinda, notwithstanding all this, observe, I’m determined to retain Clarence Hervey among the number of my public worshippers during my life--which you know cannot last long....