was the journey tolerable, you poor souls?
--but i would not wait for you to come to us, i made john call for the carriage--
--as we get so little company.
but i feel as if i know you already-- delightful creatures!
--deaf--
--fruit and game--
--call--and here is miss marianne!
i declare you are the loveliest girl i ever set eyes on! cannot you get them married, mrs dashwood? you must not leave it too long!
--not a beau for miles!
but there is colonel brandon!
just wait till he sees you! if we can persuade him out to meet you!
of course she is fatigued!
you must get your maidservant to make you up some camphor--it is the best tonic for the staggers!
not a beau for miles.
colonel brandon is the most eligible bachelor in the county--he is bound to do for one of you. mind, he is a better age for miss dashwood--but i dare say she left her heart behind in sussex, eh?
aha! i see you, miss marianne! i think i have unearthed a secret!
what sort of man is he, miss dashwood? is he butcher, baker, candlestick- maker? i shall winkle it out of you somehow, you know!
you are in lonely country now, miss dashwood, none of us has any secrets here--
he is curate of the parish, i dare say!
give us a clue, miss dashwood--is he in uniform?
forrest? foster? frost? foggarty?
what a pity you are late, colonel! you have missed the most delightful singing!
besotted! excellent match, for he is rich and she is handsome.
oh, lord bless you, as long as ever i have been here, and i came fifteen years back. his estate at delaford is but four miles hence and he and john are very thick. he has no wife or children of his own, for--
--he has a tragic history. he loved a girl once--twenty years ago now--a ward to his family, but they were not permitted to marry.
money. eliza was poor. when the father discovered their amour, she was flung out of the house and he packed off into the army. i believe he would have done himself a harm if not for john.
oh, she was passed from man to man-- disappeared from all good society. when brandon got back from india he searched for heaven knows how long, only to find her dying in a poor house. you have seen how it has affected him. once i thought my daughter charlotte might have cheered him up, but she is much better off where she is.
look at him now, though. so attentive. i shall try an experiment on him.
no, no, it is just the thing--all suitors need a little help, my dear
colonel brandon!
we have not heard you play for us of late!
perhaps you did not know, miss marianne, that our dear brandon shares your passion for music and plays the piano forte very well.
play us a duet!
i'll trow you know quite as many melancholy tunes as miss marianne!
come! let us see you both side by side!
imagine my surprise, mrs dashwood, when charlotte and her lord and master appeared with our cousin lucy! the last person i expected to see! 'where did you pop out from, miss?' says i. i was never so surprised to see anyone in all my life!
she probably came on purpose to share the fun, for there are no funds for such luxuries at home, poor thing.
mr palmer is so droll--he is always out of humour.
here he is! now you shall see, charlotte.
how now, mr willoughby! you must greet my daughter charlotte, and mr palmer--
and my little cousin, miss lucy steele.
'twas you took her off my hands, mr palmer, and a very good bargain you made of it too, but now i have the whip hand over you for you cannot give her back!
miss marianne, come and play a round with us! looking out at the weather will not bring him back.
mind, we are all a little forlorn these days. london has swallowed all our company.
if she tells you aught of the famous 'mr f', lucy, you are to pass it on.
i can stand it no longer, i must know what you are saying, lucy! miss dashwood is quite engrossed!
well, what can have fascinated you to such an extent, miss dashwood?
do you hear, charlotte?
while you were so busy whispering, charlotte and i have concocted a plan!
i make for london shortly and i invite you, lucy, and both the misses dashwood to join me!
i shall convey you all to my house in berkeley street and we shall taste all the delights of the season--what say you?
your mother can spare you very well.
i will brook no refusal, miss dashwood!
let you and me strike hands upon the bargain--and if i do not have the three of you married by christmas, it will not be my fault!
to be sure, my dear, you must just hand it to pigeon there. he will take care of it.
lord above, you do not waste any time, miss marianne!
and who is 'dear edward'?
indeed! is that ferrars with an f?
i note you do not inquire for your messages, miss dashwood!
she is as sly as you, lucy!
do not fret, my dear. i am told that this good weather is keeping many sportsmen in the country at present, but the frost will drive them back to town very soon, depend upon it.
and miss dashwood may set her heart at rest, for i overheard your sister- in-law say that she was to bring the elusive mr f to the ball tonight!
there you are! goodness, how hot it is, mrs dashwood. you are not alone, i trust?
your brother! i declare, that is good news indeed. at long last!
so you must be the younger brother? is mr edward not here? miss dashwood here was counting on him!
well, i declare, i do not know what the young men are about these days-- are they all in hiding?
come, mr robert, in the absence of your brother, you must dance with our lovely miss dashwood!
come along, dear.
will you come, lucy?
that is very handsome--
there now! lovers' quarrels are swift to heal! that letter will do the trick, mark my word.
i must be off. i hope he won't keep her waiting much longer, miss dashwood. it hurts to see her looking so forlorn.
i had to come straight up--how are you, miss marianne?
poor thing! she looks very bad. no wonder, miss dashwood, for it is but too true. i was told here in the street by miss morton, who is a great friend: he is to be married at the end of the month--to a miss grey with fifty thousand pounds. well, said i, if 'tis true, then he is a good-for-nothing who has used my young friend abominably ill, and i wish with all my soul that his wife may plague his heart out!
but he is not the only young man worth having, my dear, and with your pretty face you will never want for admirers.
ah, me! she had better have her cry out and have done with it. i will go and look out something to tempt her-- does she care for olives?
here is someone to cheer you up, miss dashwood!
oh, my dears! what a commotion! mr edward ferrars--the very one i used to joke you about, miss dashwood-- has been engaged these five years to lucy steele!
poor mr ferrars! his mother, who by all accounts is very proud, demanded that he break the engagement on pain of disinheritance. but he has refused to break his promise to lucy. he has stood by her, good man, and is cut off without a penny! she has settled it all irrevocably upon mr robert. but i cannot stop, i must go to lucy. your sister-in-law scolded her like any fury--drove her to hysterics.