Mme Sinclair scares Clarisse (Clarisse, Nourse 1751 fig17) - Pasquier

Just as Clarisse is summoning Lovelace to keep her promise not to make her spend the night at Mrs. Sinclair's, she comes to complain about Clarisse's criticism of her home. Clarisse is frightened by the landlady's outbursts and takes refuge near Lovelace. In his letter to Belford, Lovelace gives a grotesque description of the "old dragon". This scene distracts Clarisse's anguish, and she ends up sleeping on the spot the night of the rape (CH1985, L256, pp. 882-883; CH1999II, pp. 338-340).