 shewn into a room where Lady Horatia sat alone.
"Pardon me, dear Miss de Mornay," cried she, the moment she entered, "if instead of waiting on you, I request to see you here. The truth is, I am foolishly affected by the sight of illness. That which has attacked your little friends is not however, I hope, dangerous?"
Celestina, who by the freedom and kindness of this address was immediately relieved from some little uneasiness which she had felt from this unexpected interview, answered with all her usual ease and grace, and Lady Horatia, who seemed extremely pleased with having met her, enquired after Lady Molyneux, and such other of their

former friends, as she thought would renew no unpleasing recollections: for though she did not know all that had happened, she was well aware how cruel a blow the death of Mrs. Willoughby had been to Celestina, and had heard some confused reports that the marriage of Willoughby and Miss Fitz-Hayman was interrupted by his prior attachment to his mother's ward; but she knew not how far Celestina had been preferred to the haughty heiress; and though she had always a partial kindness to her when she used to meet her at Mrs. Willoughby's, she had lost fight of her entirely afterwards, and, after some enquiries, concluded she was gone back to France.
The sight of her now, at a remote inn in the North, was as agreeable as it was unexpected; and though the difference of their ages seemed to preclude any great degree of intimacy before, for Lady Horatia was passed the middle of life, yet now she felt herself strongly disposed to cultivate a

pleasure thus thrown in her way. Celestina could not be insensible of the honour she derived from the notice of a person more eminent for her goodness and her talents than her birth or her fortune, and always pleasing, she grew infinitely more so where she desired to please. In a few hours, therefore, they became so happy with each other, that Lady Horatia could not part with her but with regret; and Celestina would have left her with reluctance on any other occasion than to attend the children of her friend, (which, during her absence, Mrs. Hemmings, Lady Horatia's woman, had done, with an attention that prevented Mrs. Elphinstone's suffering from the engagement of Celestina with her lady.)
The children became better and their mother easier. Lady Horatia saw and liked her, and invited both her and Celestina to give her as much of their time as they could spare
