invitation.

Henrietta, to whom all houses appeared preferable to her own home,
joyfully accepted the offer, committing to Cecilia the communication of
the change of her abode to Mrs Belfield.

Cecilia, who in the known and tried honour of Mr Arnott would
unreluctantly have trusted a sister, was much pleased by this little
arrangement, from which should no good ensue, no evil, at least, was
probable. But she hoped, through the mutual pity their mutual
melancholy might inspire, that their minds, already not dissimilar,
would be softened in favour of each other, and that, in conclusion,
each might be happy in receiving the consolation each could give, and a
union would take place, in which their reciprocal disappointment might,
in time, be nearly forgotten.

There was not, indeed, much promise of such an event in the countenance
of Mr Arnott, when, late at night, he came for his sister, nor in the
unbounded sorrow of Henrietta, when the moment of leave-taking
arrived. Mr Arnott looked half dead with the shock his sister's
intelligence had given him, and Henrietta's heart, torn asunder between
friendship and love, was scarce able to bear a parting, which from
Cecilia, she regarded as eternal, added to the consciousness it was
occasioned by her going to join Delvile for life!

Cecilia, who both read and pitied these conflicting emotions, was
herself extremely hurt by this necessary separation. She tenderly loved
Henrietta, she loved her even the more for the sympathy of their
affections, which called forth the most forcible commiseration,--that
which springs from fellow-feeling!