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She
looked about her with due consideration, and found almost everything
in his favour: a park, a real park, five miles round, a spacious
modern-built house, so well placed and well screened as to deserve
to be in any collection of engravings of gentlemen?s seats in the
kingdom, and wanting only to be completely new furnished?pleasant
sisters, a quiet mother, and an agreeable man himself?with the
advantage of being tied up from much gaming at present by a promise
to his father, and of being Sir Thomas hereafterIt might do very
well; she believed she should accept him; and she began accordingly
to interest herself a little about the horse which he had to run at the
B??? races
These races were to call him away not long after their acquaintance
began; and as it appeared that the family did not, from his
usual goings on, expect him back again for many weeks, it would
bring his passion to an early proofMuch was said on his side to
42
Mansfield Park
induce her to attend the races, and schemes were made rolex explorer for a large
party to them, with all the eagerness of inclination, but it would
only do to be talked of
And -bleep-, what was she doing and thinking all this while? and
what was her opinion of the newcomers? Few young ladies of eighteen
could be less called on to speak their opinion than FannyIn a
quiet way, very little attended to, she paid her tribute of admiration
to Miss Crawford?s beauty; but as she still continued to think Mr
Crawford very plain, in spite of her two cousins having repeatedly
proved the contrary, she never mentioned himThe notice, which
she excited herself, was to this effect?I begin now to understand
you all, except Miss Price,? said Miss Crawford, as she was walking
with the Mr?Pray, is she out, or is she not? I am puzzled
She dined at the Parsonage, with the rest of you, which seemed like
being out; and yet she says so little, that I can hardly suppose she is
Edmund, to whom this was chiefly addressed, replied, ?I believe I
know what you mean, but I will not undertake to answer the chloe bay bag camel question
My cousin is grown upShe has the age and sense of a woman,
but the outs and not outs are beyond me
?And yet, in general, nothing can be more easily ascertainedThe
distinction is so broadManners as well as appearance are, generally
speaking, so totally differentTill now, I could not have supposed it
possible to be mistaken as to a girl?s being out or notA girl not out
has always the same sort of dress: a close bonnet, for instance; looks
very demure, and never says a wordYou may smile, but it is so, I
assure you; and except that it is sometimes carried a little too far, it
is all very properGirls should be quiet and modestThe most objectionable
part is, that the alteration of manners on being introduced
into company is frequently too suddenThey sometimes pass
in such very little time from reserve to quite the opposite?to confidence!
That is the faulty part of the present systemOne does not
like to see a girl of eighteen or nineteen so immediately up to every
thing?and perhaps when one has seen tiffany round tag necklace her hardly able to speak the
year beforeBertram, I dare say you have sometimes met with
such changes
?I believe I have, but this is hardly fair; I see what you are atYou
are quizzing me and Miss Anderson
43
Jane Austen
?No, indeedMiss Anderson! I do not know who or what you
meanI am quite in the darkBut I will quiz you with a great deal of
pleasure, if you will tell me what about
?Ah! you carry it off very well, but I cannot be quite so far imposed
onYou must have had Miss Anderson in your eye, in describing
an altered young ladyYou paint too accurately for mistakeThe Andersons of Baker StreetWe were speaking
of them the other day, you knowEdmund, you have heard me
mention Charles AndersonThe circumstance was precisely as this
lady has represented itWhen Anderson first introduced me to his
family, about two years ago, his sister was not out, and I could not
get her to speak to meI sat there an hour one morning waiting for
Anderson, with only her and a little girl or two in the room, the
governess necklace tiffany being sick or run away, and the mother in and out every
moment with letters of business, and I could hardly get a word or a
look from the young lady?nothing like a civil answer?she screwed
up her mouth, and turned from me with such an air! I did not see
her again for a twelvemonth
Holford?s, and did not recollect herShe came up to me, claimed
me as an acquaintance, stared me out of countenance; and talked
and laughed till I did not know which way to lookI felt that I must
be the jest of the room at the time, and Miss Crawford, it is plain,
has heard the story
?And a very pretty story it is, and with more truth in it, I dare say,
than does credit to Miss AndersonIt is too common a faultMothers
certainly have not yet got quite the right way of managing their
daughtersI do not know where the error liesI do not pretend to
set people right, but I do see that they are often wrong
?Those who are showing the world what female manners should
be,? said MrBertram gallantly, ?are doing a great deal to set rolex datejust oyster them
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