of which she no longer was the owner, and that all she either spent or
received was to be accounted for and returned, since by the will of her
uncle, unless her husband took her name, her estate on the very day of
her marriage was to be forfeited, and entered upon by the Egglestons.
Delvile's plan and hope of secresy had made them little weigh this
matter, though this premature discovery so unexpectedly exposed her to
their power.

The first thought that occurred to her, was to send an express to
Delvile, and desire his instructions how to proceed; but she dreaded
his impetuosity of temper, and was almost certain that the instant he
should hear she was in any uneasiness or perplexity, he would return to
her, at all hazards, even though Mr Monckton were dead, and his mother
herself dying. This step, therefore, she did not dare risk, preferring
any personal hardship, to endangering the already precarious life of
Mrs Delvile, or to hastening her son home while Mr Monckton was in so
desperate a situation.

But though what to avoid was easy to settle, what to seek was difficult
to devise. She bad now no Mrs Charlton to receive her, not a creature
in whom she could confide. To continue her present way of living was
deeply involving Delvile in debt, a circumstance she had never
considered, in the confusion and hurry attending all their plans and
conversations, and a circumstance which, though to him it might have
occurred, he could not in common delicacy mention.

Yet to have quitted her house, and retrenched her expences, would have
raised suspicions that must have anticipated the discovery she so much
wished to have delayed. That wish, by the present danger of its
failure, was but more ardent; to have her affairs and situation become