He resolved to pursue it, let the consequences be what they
might. He depended upon finding Antonia in some unguarded
moment; And seeing no other Man admitted into her society, nor
hearing any mentioned either by her or by Elvira, He imagined
that her young heart was still unoccupied. While He waited for
the opportunity of satisfying his unwarrantable lust, every day
increased his coldness for Matilda. Not a little was this
occasioned by the consciousness of his faults to her. To hide
them from her He was not sufficiently master of himself: Yet He
dreaded lest, in a transport of jealous rage, She should betray
the secret on which his character and even his life depended.
Matilda could not but remark his indifference: He was conscious
that She remarked it, and fearing her reproaches, shunned her
studiously. Yet when He could not avoid her, her mildness might
have convinced him that He had nothing to dread from her
resentment. She had resumed the character of the gentle
interesting Rosario: She taxed him not with ingratitude; But her
eyes filled with involuntary tears, and the soft melancholy of
her countenance and voice uttered complaints far more touching
than words could have conveyed. Ambrosio was not unmoved by her
sorrow; But unable to remove its cause, He forbore to show that
it affected him. As her conduct convinced him that He needed not
fear her vengeance, He continued to neglect her, and avoided her
company with care. Matilda saw that She in vain attempted to
regain his affections: Yet She stifled the impulse of
resentment, and continued to treat her inconstant Lover with her
former fondness and attention.

By degrees Elvira's constitution recovered itself. She was no
longer troubled with convulsions, and Antonia ceased to tremble