Chapter 18
Day after day, week after week, passed away on my return to
Geneva; and I could not collect the courage to recommence my work.
I feared the vengeance of the disappointed fiend, yet I was unable
to overcome my repugnance to the task which was enjoined me. I
found that I could not compose a female without again devoting
several months to profound study and laborious disquisition. I had
heard of some discoveries having been made by an English
philosopher, the knowledge of which was material to my success, and
I sometimes thought of obtaining my father's consent to visit
England for this purpose; but I clung to every pretence of delay
and shrank from taking the first step in an undertaking whose
immediate necessity began to appear less absolute to me. A change
indeed ha
