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There was one person, however, in the house, whom he could not
leave to learn his sentiments merely through his conductHe could
not help giving MrsNorris a hint of his having hoped that her
advice might have been interposed to prevent what her judgment
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must certainly have disapprovedThe young people had been very
inconsiderate in forming the plan; they ought to have been capable
of a better decision themselves; but they were young; and, excepting
Edmund, he believed, of unsteady characters; and with greater
surprise, therefore, he must regard her acquiescence in their wrong
measures, her countenance of their unsafe amusements, than that
such measures and such amusements should have been suggestedNorris was a little confounded and as nearly being silenced as
ever she had been in her life; for she was ashamed to confess having
never seen any of the impropriety which was so glaring to Sir Thomas,
and would not have admitted that her influence was insufficient?
that she might have talked in vainHer only resource was to
get out of the subject as fast as possible, and turn the current of Sir
Thomas?s ideas into a happier channelShe had a great deal to insinuate
in her own praise as to general attention to the interest and
comfort of his family, much exertion and many sacrifices to glance
at in the form of hurried walks and sudden removals from her own
fireside, and many excellent hints of distrust and economy to Lady
Bertram and Edmund to detail, whereby a most considerable saving
had always arisen, and more than one bad servant been tiffany canada detected
But her chief strength lay in SothertonHer greatest support and
glory was in having formed the connexion with the Rushworths
There she was impregnableShe took to herself all the credit of bringing
MrRushworth?s admiration of Maria to any effect?If I had
not been active,? said she, ?and made a point of being introduced to
his mother, and then prevailed on my sister to pay the first visit, I
am as certain as I sit here that nothing would have come of it; for
MrRushworth is the sort of amiable modest young man who wants
a great deal of encouragement, and there were girls enough on the
catch for him if we had been idleBut I left no stone unturnedI
was ready to move heaven and earth to persuade my sister, and at
last I did persuade herYou know the distance to Sotherton; it was
in the middle of winter, and the roads almost impassable, but I did
persuade her
?I know how great, how justly great, your influence is with Lady
Bertram and her children, and am the more concerned that it should
not have been
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?My dear Sir Thomas, if you had seen the state of the roads that
day! I thought we should never have got through them, though we
had the four horses of course; and poor old coachman would attend
us, out of his great love and kindness, though he was hardly able to
sit the box on account of the rheumatism which I had been doctoring
him for ever since MichaelmasI cured him at last; but he was
very bad all the winter?and this was such a day, I could not help
going to him up in his room before we set off to advise him not to
venture: he was putting on his prada black bags wig; so I said, ?Coachman, you had
much better not go; your Lady and I shall be very safe; you know
how steady Stephen is, and Charles has been upon the leaders so
often now, that I am sure there is no fear But, however, I soon
found it would not do; he was bent upon going, and as I hate to be
worrying and officious, I said no more; but my heart quite ached
for him at every jolt, and when we got into the rough lanes about
Stoke, where, what with frost and snow upon beds of stones, it was
worse than anything you can imagine, I was quite in an agony about
himAnd then the poor horses too! To see them straining away! You
know how I always feel for the horsesAnd when we got to the
bottom of Sandcroft Hill, what do you think I did? You will laugh
at me; but I got out and walked upIt might not be
saving them much, but it was something, and I could not bear to sit
at my ease and be dragged up at the expense of those noble animals
I caught a dreadful cold, but that I did not regardMy object was
accomplished in the visit
?I hope we shall always think the acquaintance worth any trouble
that might be taken to establish itThere is nothing very striking in
MrRushworth?s manners, but I was pleased last night with what
appeared to be his opinion on one subject: his decided preference of
a quiet family party to the bustle and confusion of actingHe seemed
to feel exactly as one could wish
?Yes, indeed, and the more you know of him the better you will like
himHe is not a shining character, but he has a thousand good qualities;
and is so disposed to look up to you, that I am cartier roadster chrono quite laughed at
about it, for everybody considers it as my doingGrant the other day, ?if MrRushworth were a
son of your own, he could not hold Sir Thomas in greater respect?
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Sir Thomas gave up the point, foiled by her evasions, disarmed by
her flattery; and was obliged to rest satisfied with the conviction
that where the present pleasure of those she loved was at stake, her
kindness did sometimes overpower her judgment
It was a busy morning with himConversation with any of them
occupied but a small part of itHe had to reinstate himself in all the
wonted concerns of his Mansfield life: to see his steward and his
bailiff; to examine and compute, and, in the intervals of business, to
walk into his stables and his gardens, and nearest plantations; but
active and methodical, he had not only done all this before he resumed
his seat as master of the house at dinner, he had also set the
carpenter to work in pulling down what had been so lately put up
in the billiard-room, and given the scene-painter his dismissal long
enough to justify the pleasing belief of his being then at least as far
off as NorthamptonThe scene-painter was gone, having spoilt only
the floor of one room, ruined all the coachman?s sponges, and made
five of the under-servants idle and dissatisfied; and Sir Thomas was
in hopes that another day or two would suffice to wipe away every
outward memento of what had been, even to the destruction of
every unbound copy of Lovers? Vows in the house, for he was burning
all that met his eye
MrYates was beginning now to understand Sir tiffany replica Thomas?s intentions,
though as far as ever from understanding their sourceHe
and his friend had been out with their guns the chief of the morning,
and Tom had taken the opportunity of explaining, with proper
apologies for his father?s particularity, what was to be expected
Yates felt it as acutely as might be supposedTo be a second time
disappointed in the same way was an instance of very severe ill-luck;
and his indignation was such, that had it not been for delicacy towards
his friend, and his friend?s youngest sister, he believed he should
certainly attack the baronet on the absurdity of his proceedings,
and argue him into a little more rationalityHe believed this very
stoutly while he was in Mansfield Wood, and all the way home; but
there was a something in Sir Thomas, when they sat round the same
table, which made MrYates think it wiser to let him pursue his
own way, and feel the folly of it without oppositionHe had known
many disagreeable fathers before, and often been struck with the
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inconveniences they occasioned, but never, in the whole course of
his life, had he seen one of that class so unintelligibly moral, so
infamously tyrannical as Sir ThomasHe was not a man to be endured
but for his children?s sake, and he might be thankful to his
fair daughter Julia that MrYates did yet mean to stay a few days
longer under his roof
The evening passed with external smoothness, though almost every
mind was ruffled; and the music which Sir Thomas called for
from his daughters helped to conceal the want of real harmony
Maria was in a good deal of gucci women agita |
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