36 Sense & Sensibility -Bedtime Tales With Stephanie Poppins

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Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen Chapter 36 Within a few days after this meeting,

The newspapers announced to the world the Lady of Thomas Palmer Esquire was safely delivered of sun and air.

This event,

Highly important to Mrs Jennings' happiness,

Produced temporary alteration in the disposal of her time,

For as she wished to be as much as possible with Chard,

She went thither every morning as soon as she was dressed and did not return till late in the evening.

And the Miss Dashwoods,

At the particular request of the Middletons,

Spent the whole of the day in Conduit Street.

Though nothing could be more polite than Lady Middleton's behaviour to Eleanor and Marianne,

She really did not like them at all.

Because they neither flattered herself nor her children,

She could not believe them good-natured.

And because they were fond of reading,

She fancied them satirical.

Their presence was a restraint both on her and on Lucy.

It checked the idleness of one and the business of the other.

Lady Middleton was ashamed of doing nothing before them,

And the flattery which Lucy was proud to think of and administer at other times,

She feared they would despise her for offering.

Miss Steele was the least discomposed of the three by their presence,

And it was in their power to reconcile her to it entirely.

Would either of them only have given her a full and minute account of the whole affair between Marianne and Mr.

Willoughby,

She would have thought herself amply rewarded for the sacrifice of the best place by the fire after dinner.

But this consolation was not granted for those she often threw out expressions of pity for her sister to Eleanor.

No effect was produced but a look of indifference from the former,

Or disgust in the latter.

All these jealousies and discontents,

However,

Were so totally unexpected by Mrs.

Jennings,

She thought it a delightful thing for the girls to be together.

She joined them sometimes at Sir John's,

And sometimes at her own house,

But wherever it was she always came in excellent spirits,

Full of delight and importance,

Attributing Charlotte's well-doing to her own care,

And ready to give so exact,

So minute a detail of her situation,

As only Miss Steele had curiosity enough to desire.

I come now to the relation of a misfortune which about this time befell Mrs.

John Dashwood.

It so happened that while her two sisters with Mrs.

Jennings were first calling on her in Harley Street,

Another of her acquaintance dropped in.

This last arrived lady,

On hearing the name of the Miss Dashwoods,

And understanding them to be Mr.

Dashwood's sisters,

Immediately concluded them to be staying in Harley Street,

And this misconstruction produced within a day or two afterwards cards of invitations for them,

As well as for their brother and sister,

To a small musical party at her house.

Mrs.

John Dashwood was not only exceedingly obliged to commit to the great inconvenience of sending her carriage for the Miss Dashwoods,

But what was still worse,

Must be subject to the unpleasantness of appearing to treat them with attention.

Marianne had now been brought up by degree so much into the habit of going out every day,

That it was to become a matter of indifference to her whether she went or not,

And she prepared quietly and mechanically for every evening's engagement,

Though without expecting the smallest amusement from any.

To her dress and appearance she was grown so perfectly indifferent,

As not to bestow half the consideration upon it during the whole of her toilette,

Which she'd received from Miss Steele in the first five minutes of their being together,

When it was finished.

She saw everything and asked everything,

Was never easy till she knew the price of every part of Marianne's dress,

And was not without hopes of finding out,

Before they parted,

How much her washing cost per week and how much she had every year to spend upon herself.

The impertinence of the kind of scrutinies,

Moreover,

Was generally concluded with a compliment,

Which was considered by Marianne as the greatest impertinence of all.

With such encouragement as this,

She was dismissed on the present occasion to her brother's carriage,

Which they were ready to enter five minutes after it stopped at the door.

The party,

Like other musical parties,

Comprehended a great many people who had real taste for the performance,

And a great many more who had none at all.

As Eleanor was neither musical nor affecting to be so,

She made no scruple of turning away her eyes from the grand pianoforte,

And would fix them at pleasure on any other object in the room.

In one of these excursive glances she perceived among a group of young men the very he who had given them a lecture on toothpick cases at Grey's.

She perceived him soon afterwards looking at herself and speaking familiarly to her brother,

And had just determined to find out his name when they both came towards her and Mr Dashwood introduced him as Mr Robert Ferrars.

He addressed her with easy civility and twisted his head into a bow,

Which assured her as plainly as words could have done,

He was exactly the coxcomb had heard him described to be by Lucy.

While she wondered at the difference of the two men,

She did not find the emptiness and conceit of the one put her at all out of charity with the modesty and worth of the other.

While they were different,

Robert explained to her himself for talking of his brother and lamenting the extreme goshery which he really believed kept him from mixing in proper society,

He candidly and generously attributed it much less to any natural deficiency than to the misfortune of a private education,

While he himself,

Merely from the advantage of a public school,

Was as well fitted to mix in the world as any other man.

Upon my soul,

He added,

I believe it's nothing more,

And so often I tell my mother when she's grieving about it.

My dear madam,

I always say to her,

If you had only sent him to Westminster as well as myself,

Instead of sending him to Mr Pratt's,

All this would have been prevented.

Eleanor would not oppose the opinion,

For whatever might be her general estimation of the advantage of a public school,

She could not think of Edward's abode in Mr Pratt's family with any satisfaction.

You reside in Devonshire,

I think,

Was his next observation.

In a cottage near Dawlish?

Eleanor set him right as to its situation,

And it seemed rather surprising to him that anybody could live in Devonshire without living near Dawlish.

For my own part,

Said he,

I'm excessively fond of a cottage.

There is always so much comfort,

So much elegance,

And I protest if I had any money to spare,

I should buy a little land and build one myself within a short distance of London,

Where I might drive myself down at any time and collect a few friends about me and be happy.

Some people imagine there can be no accommodations,

No space in a cottage,

But this is all a mistake.

I was last month at my friend Elliot's near Dartford.

Lady Elliot wished to give a dance.

But how can it be done,

Said she,

There's not a room in this cottage that will hold ten people,

And where can the supper be?

I immediately saw there could be no difficulty in it,

So I said,

My dear Lady Elliot,

Do not be uneasy.

The dining parlour will admit eighteen,

Couple with ease.

Card tables may be placed in the drawing-room,

The library may be open for tea and other refreshments,

And let the supper be set out in the saloon.

So that,

In fact,

You see,

If people do but know how to set about it,

Every comfort may as well be enjoyed in a cottage as in the most spacious dwelling.

Eleanor agreed to it all,

For she did not think this man deserved the compliment of rational opposition.

As John Dashwood had no more pleasure in music than his elder sister,

His mind was equally at liberty to fix on anything else,

And a thought struck him during the evening which he communicated to his wife for her at probation when they got home.

The consideration of Miss Dennington's mistake in supposing his sisters their guests,

Had suggested the propriety of their being really invited to become such.

Fanny was startled at the proposal.

I do not see how it can be done,

Said she,

Without affronting Lady Middleton.

You know I am always ready to pay them any attention,

In my power.

But they are Lady Middleton's visitors.

How can I ask them away from her?

Her husband did not see the force of her objection.

They had already spent a week in this manner in Conduit Street,

And Lady Middleton could not be displeased that they are giving the same number of days to such near relations.

Fanny paused a moment and then,

With fresh vigor,

Said,

My love,

I would ask them there with all my heart if it was in my power,

But I had just settled within myself to ask the Miss Steeles to spend a few days.

They are very well behaved,

Good kind of girls,

And I think the attention is due to them,

As their uncle did so very well by Edward.

I am sure you will like them.

Indeed you do like them,

You know,

Very much already,

And so does my mother,

And there are such favourites with Harry.

Mr Dashwood was convinced.

He thought of inviting the Miss Steeles immediately,

And his conscience was pacified by the resolution of inviting his sisters another year.

At the same time,

Slyly,

Suspecting that another year would make the invitation needless,

By bringing Eleanor to town as Colonel Brandon's wife,

And Marianne as their visitor.

Fanny,

Rejoicing in her escape and proud of the ready wit that had procured it,

Wrote the next morning to Lucy to request her company and her sisters.

It was enough to make Lucy very happy.

Such an opportunity of being with Edward and his family was above all things the most material to her interest,

And such an invitation the most gratifying to her feelings.

When the note was shown to Eleanor,

It gave her some share in the expectations for Lucy,

For such a mark of uncommon kindness seemed to declare that the goodwill towards her arose from something more than merely malice against herself,

And might be brought by time and address to do everything that Lucy wished.

Her flattery had already subdued the price of Lady Middleton and made an entry into the close heart of Mrs John Dashwood,

And these were effects that laid open the probability of greater.

The misdeals removed to Harley Street,

And all that reached Eleanor of their influence,

There strengthened her expectation of the event.

Sir John,

Who called on them more than once,

Brought home such accounts of the favour they were in,

It was universally striking.

Mrs Dashwood had never been so much pleased with any young women in her life as she was with them.

She called Lucy by her Christian name,

And did not know in fact,

Whether she would ever be able to part with them.