which at pleasure she might quit, and to which, at a certain period,
she could have no possible claim, but to a house which was her own for
ever, or, at least, could solely by her own choice be transferred, she
determined, as much as was in her power, in quitting her desultory
dwellings, to empty her mind of the transactions which had passed in
them, and upon entering a house where she was permanently to reside, to
make the expulsion of her past sorrows, the basis upon which to
establish her future serenity.

And this, though a work of pain and difficulty, was not impracticable;
her sensibility, indeed, was keen, and she had suffered from it the
utmost torture; but her feelings were not more powerful than her
understanding was strong, and her fortitude was equal to her trials.
Her calamities had saddened, but not weakened her mind, and the words
of Delvile in speaking of his mother occurred to her now with all the
conviction of experience, that "evils inevitable are always best
supported, because known to be past amendment, and felt to give
defiance to struggling." [Footnote: See Vol. ii. p. 317.]

A plan by which so great a revolution was to be wrought in her mind,
was not to be effected by any sudden effort of magnanimity, but by a
regular and even tenour of courage mingled with prudence. Nothing,
therefore, appeared to her so indispensable as constant employment, by
which a variety of new images might force their way in her mind to
supplant the old ones, and by which no time might be allowed for
brooding over melancholy retrospections.

Her first effort, in this work of mental reformation, was to part with
Fidel, whom hitherto she had almost involuntarily guarded, but whom she
only could see to revive the most dangerous recollections. She sent