"This is being strangely hasty, Sir!--so short a time as it is since Mr
Eggleston could expect _any_ of this estate!"

"That, madam, is nothing to the purpose; from the moment it is his, he
has as many wants for it as any other gentleman. He desired me,
however, to acquaint you, that if you still chose an apartment in this
house, till Mr Delvile returns, you shall have one at your service."

"To be a _guest_ in this house, Sir," said Cecilia, drily, "might
perhaps seem strange to me; I will not, therefore, be so much in his
way."

Mr Carn then informed her she might put her seal upon whatever she
meant hereafter to claim or dispute, and took his leave.

Cecilia now shut herself up in her own room, to meditate without
interruption, before she would proceed to any action. She felt much
inclination to send instantly for some lawyer; but when she considered
her peculiar situation, the absence of her husband, the renunciation of
his father, the loss of her fortune, and her ignorance upon the
subject, she thought it better to rest quiet till Delvile's own fate,
and own opinion could be known, than to involve herself in a lawsuit
she was so little able to superintend.

In this cruel perplexity of her mind and her affairs, her first thought
was to board again with Mrs Bayley; but that was soon given up, for she
felt a repugnance unconquerable to continuing in her native county,
when deprived of her fortune, and cast out of her dwelling.