CHAPTER 11.
It would not do.—Not all that the whole Parker [race] could say among themselves, cd produce a happier catastrophe than [that the Family] from Surry & the Family from Camberwell [were] one & the same.—The rich Westindians, & the young Ladies Seminary had all entered Sanditon in those two Hack chaises. The Mrs G. who in her friend Mrs Darling’s hands, had wavered as to coming & been unequal to the Journey, was the very same Mrs G. whose plans were at the same [period] (under [another representation]) perfectly decided, & who was without fears or difficulties.—All that had the appearance of Incongruity in the reports of the two, might very fairly be placed to the account of the Vanity, the Ignorance, or the [blunders] [of the many] engaged in the cause by the vigilance & caution of Miss Diana P—. Her intimate friends must be officious like herself, & the subject had supplied Letters & Extracts & Messages enough to [make everything appear what it was not]. Miss D. probably felt a little awkward on being first obliged to admit her mistake. A long Journey from Hampshire taken for nothing—a Brother disappointed—an [expensive House] on her hands for a week, must have been some of her immediate reflections—& much worse than all the rest, must have been the sort of sensation of being less clear-sighted & infallible than she had [beleived herself].—No part of it however seemed to trouble her long. There were so many to share in the shame & the blame, that probably when she had divided out their proper portions to Mrs Darling, Miss Capper, Fanny Noyce, Mrs C. Dupuis & [Mrs C. D’s] Neighbour, there might be a [mere trifle] [of reproach] remaining for herself.—At any rate, she was seen [all the following] morng walking about after Lodgings with Mrs G.— as alert as ever.—Mrs G. was a very well-behaved, genteel kind of Woman, who supported herself by [receiving such] great girls & young Ladies, [as] wanted either Masters for finishing their Education, or a home for beginning their Displays.—She had several more under her care than the three who were now come to Sanditon, but the others all happened to be absent.—Of these three, & indeed of all, Miss Lambe was beyond comparison the most important & precious, as she paid in proportion to her fortune.—She was about 17, half Mulatto, chilly & tender, had a maid of her own, was to have the best room in the Lodgings, & was always of the first consequence in every plan of Mrs G.—The other Girls, two Miss Beauforts were just such young Ladies as may be met with, in at least one family out of three, throughout the Kingdom; they had tolerable complexions, shewey figures, an upright decided carriage & an assured Look;—they were very accomplished & very Ignorant, their time being divided between [such pursuits] as might attract [admiration], & those Labours & Expedients of dexterous Ingenuity, by which they could dress in a stile much beyond what they ought to have afforded; they were some of the first in every change of fashion—& the object of all, was to captivate some Man of much better fortune than their own.—Mrs G. had preferred a small, retired place, like Sanditon, on Miss Lambe’s account—and the Miss Bs—, though naturally preferring any thing to [Smallness & Retirement], [yet having] [in the course of the Spring] been involved in [the inevitable] expence of six new [Dresses each] for a three days visit, were constrained to be satisfied with Sanditon also, till their circumstances were retreived. There, with the hire of a Harp for one, & the purchase of some Drawing paper for the other & all the finery they could already command, they meant to be very economical, very elegant & very [secluded]; with the hope on Miss Beaufort’s side, of praise & [celebrity from] all who walked within the sound of her Instrument, & on Miss Letitia’s, of curiosity & rapture in all who came near her while she sketched—and to Both, the consolation of meaning to be the most stylish Girls in the Place.—The particular introduction of Mrs G. to Miss Diana Parker, secured them immediately an acquaintance with the Trafalgar House-family, & with the Denhams;—and the Miss Beauforts were soon satisfied with “the Circle in which they moved [in Sanditon]” to use a proper phrase, for every body must now “move in a Circle”,—[to the prevalence] of which rototory Motion, is perhaps to be attributed the Giddiness & false steps of many.—Lady Denham had other motives for calling on Mrs G. besides attention to the Parkers.—In Miss Lambe, here was the very young Lady, sickly & rich, whom she had [been asking for]; & she made the acquaintance for Sir Edward’s sake, & the sake of her Milch asses. How it might answer with regard to the Baronet, remained to be proved, but as to the Animals, she [soon found] that all her calculations of Profit wd [be vain]. Mrs G. would not allow Miss L. to have the smallest symptom of a Decline, or [any complaint] which Asses milk cd possibly releive. “Miss L. was under the constant care of an experienced [Physician];—and his Prescriptions must be their rule”—and except in favour of some Tonic Pills, which a Cousin of her own had a Property in, Mrs G. did never deviate from the strict Medecinal page.—The corner house of the Terrace was the one in which Miss D. P. had the pleasure of settling her new friends, & considering that it commanded in front the favourite Lounge of all the Visitors at Sanditon, & on one side, whatever might be going on at the Hotel, there cd not have been a more favourable spot for the seclusions of the Miss Beauforts. And [accordingly], long before they had suited themselves with an Instrument, or [with Drawing paper], they had, by the frequency of their appearance at the low Windows upstairs, in order to close the blinds, or open the Blinds, to arrange a flower pot on the Balcony, or look at nothing through a Telescope, attracted many [an eye upwards], & made many a Gazer gaze again.—A little Novelty has a great effect in so small a place; the Miss Beauforts, who wd have been nothing at Brighton, could not move here without [notice];—and even Mr Arthur Parker, though little [disposed] for supernumerary exertion, always [quitted] the Terrace, in his [way] to [his Brothers] by this corner House, for the sake of a glimpse of the Miss Bs—, though it was ½ a qr of a mile [round about], & added two steps to the ascent of the Hill.
CHAPTER 12.
Charlotte had been 10 days at Sanditon without seeing Sanditon House, every attempt at calling on Lady D. having been defeated by meeting with her beforehand. But now it was to be more resolutely undertaken, at a more early hour, that nothing might be neglected of attention to Lady D. or amusement to Charlotte.—“And if you should find a favourable opening my Love, said Mr P. (who did not mean to go with them)—I think you had [better mention] the poor Mullins’s situation, & sound her Ladyship as to a Subscription for them. I am not fond of charitable subscriptions in a place of this kind—It is a sort of tax upon all that come—Yet as their distress is very great & I almost promised the poor Woman yesterday to get something done for her, I beleive we must set a subscription on [foot]—& therefore the sooner the better,—& Lady Denham’s name at the head of the List will be a very necessary beginning.—You will not dislike speaking to her about it, Mary?”—“I will do whatever you wish me, replied his Wife—but you would do it so much better yourself. I shall not know what to say.”—“My dear Mary, cried he, it is impossible you can [be really at a loss]. Nothing can be [more simple]. You have only to state the present afflicted situation of the family, their [earnest] application to me, & my being willing to promote a little subscription for their releif, provided it meet with her approbation.—” “The easiest thing in the World—cried Miss Diana Parker who happened to be calling on them at the moment—. All said & done, in less time [than] you have been talking of it now.—And while you are on the subject of subscriptions Mary, I will thank you to mention a very melancholy case to Lady D, which has been represented to me in the most affecting terms.—There is a poor Woman in Worcestershire, whom some friends of mine are exceedingly interested about, & I have undertaken to collect whatever I can for her. If you wd mention the circumstance to Lady Denham!—Lady Denham can give, if she is properly attacked—& I look upon her to be [the sort] of Person who, when once she [is] prevailed on to undraw her Purse, would as readily give 10Gs as 5.—And therefore, if you find her in a Giving mood, you might as well speak in favour of another Charity which I & a few more, have very much at heart—the establishment of a Charitable Repository at Burton on Trent.—And [then],—there is the family of the poor Man who was hung last assizes at York, tho’ we really have raised the sum we wanted for putting them [all out], yet if you can get a Guinea from her on their behalf, it may as well be done.—” “My dear Diana! exclaimed Mrs P.— I could no more mention these things to Lady D.— than I cd fly.”—“Where’s the difficulty?—I wish I could go with you myself—but in 5 minutes I must be at Mrs G.— to encourage Miss Lambe in taking her first Dip. She is so frightened, poor Thing, that I promised to come & keep up her Spirits, & go in the Machine with her if she wished it—and as soon as that is [over], I must hurry home, for Susan is to have Leaches [at one oclock]—which will be a three hours business,—therefore I really have not a moment to spare—besides that ([between] ourselves) I ought to be in bed myself at this present time, for I am hardly able to stand—and when the Leaches have done, I dare say we shall both go to our rooms for the rest of the day.”—“I am sorry [to hear it], indeed; but [if this is the case] I hope Arthur will come to us.”—“If Arthur takes my advice, he will go to bed too, for if he stays up by himself, he will certainly eat & drink more than he ought;—but you see Mary, how impossible it is for me to go with you to Lady Denham’s.”—“Upon second thoughts Mary, said her husband, I will not trouble you to speak about the Mullins’s.—I will take an opportunity of seeing Lady D. myself.—I know how little it suits you to be pressing matters upon a Mind at all unwilling.”—His application thus withdrawn, his sister could say no more in support of hers, which was his object, as he felt all [their impropriety] & all the certainty of their ill effect upon his own better claim.—Mrs P. was delighted at this release, & set off very happy with her friend & her little girl, on this walk to Sanditon House.—It was a close, misty morng, & when they reached the brow of the Hill, [they could not] for some time make out what sort of Carriage it was, which they saw coming [up]. It appeared at different moments to be everything from the Gig to the Pheaton,—from one horse to 4; & just as they were concluding in favour of a Tandem, little Mary’s young eyes distinguished the Coachman & she eagerly called out, “T’is Uncle Sidney Mama, it is indeed.” And so it proved.—Mr Sidney Parker driving his Servant in a very neat Carriage was soon opposite to them, & they all stopped for a few minutes. The manners of the Parkers were always pleasant among themselves—& [it was] a very friendly meeting between Sidney & his sister in law, who was [most kindly] taking it for granted that he was on his way to Trafalgar House. This he declined however. “He was just come from Eastbourne, proposing to spend two or three days, as it might happen, at Sanditon—but the Hotel must be his Quarters—He was expecting to be joined there by a friend or two.”—The rest was common enquiries & remarks, with kind notice of little Mary, & a very well-bred Bow & proper address to Miss Heywood on her being named to him—and they parted, to meet again within a few hours.—Sidney Parker was about 7 or 8 & 20, very good-looking, [with a decided air of Ease & Fashion, and a] lively countenance.—This adventure afforded agreable discussion for some time. Mrs P. entered into all her Husband’s joy on the occasion, & exulted in the credit which Sidney’s arrival wd give to the place. The [road] to Sanditon H. was , handsome, planted [approach], between fields, [& conducting at the end of a qr of a mile through second Gates] [into] the Grounds, which though [not extensive] [had] all the Beauty & Respectability which an abundance of very fine Timber could give.—[These Entrance Gates were so much in a corner of the Grounds or Paddock, so near one of its Boundaries], that [an outside] fence was at first almost pressing on the road—till an angle [here, & a curve there threw] [them to] a better distance. The Fence was a proper Park paling in excellent condition; with [clusters of fine Elms, or rows of old Thorns] following its [line] almost every where.—Almost must be stipulated—for there were [vacant spaces]—& through one of these, Charlotte as soon as they entered the Enclosure, caught a [glimpse over the pales] of something White & Womanish in the field on the other side;—it was a something which immediately brought Miss B. into her head—& stepping to the pales, she saw indeed—& very [decidedly], [in spite of the Mist]; Miss B— seated, not far before her, at the foot of the [bank] which sloped down from the outside of the [Paling &] which a narrow [Path] seemed to skirt along;—Miss Brereton seated, apparently very composedly—& Sir E. D. by her side.—They were sitting so near each other & appeared so closely engaged in gentle conversation, that Ch. instantly [felt] she had nothing to do but to step back again, & say not a word.—Privacy was certainly their object.—It could not but [strike her] rather unfavourably with regard to Clara;—but hers was a situation which [must not] be judged with severity.—She was glad to perceive that [nothing had been] [discerned] by Mrs Parker; [If Charlotte had not been] considerably the tallest of [the two], Miss B.’s white ribbons might not have fallen within the ken of her more observant eyes.—Among other points of moralising reflection which the sight of this Tete a Tete produced, Charlotte cd not but think of the extreme difficulty which secret Lovers must have in finding a proper spot for their stolen Interveiws.—Here perhaps they had thought themselves so [perfectly secure] from observation!—the whole field open before them—a steep bank & Pales never crossed by the foot [by Man] [at their back]—and a great thickness of air, in aid.—Yet here, she had seen them. They were really [ill-used].—The House was large & handsome; two Servants appeared, to admit them, & every thing had a suitable air of Property & Order.—Lady D. valued herself upon her liberal Establishment, & had great enjoyment in the [order and the Importance] of her style of living.—They were shewn into the usual sitting room, well-proportioned & well-furnished;—tho’ it saw Furniture rather originally good & extremely well kept, than new or shewey—and as Lady D. was not there, Charlotte had leisure to look about, & to be told by Mrs P. that the whole-length Portrait of a [stately] Gentleman, which placed over the Mantlepeice, caught the eye immediately, was the picture of Sir H. Denham—and that one among many Miniatures in another part of the room, little conspicuous, [represented] Mr Hollis.—Poor Mr Hollis!—It was impossible not to feel him hardly used; to be obliged to stand back in his [own House] & see the best place by the fire constantly occupied by Sir H. D.
NOTES
Page 1
4. [being induced by Business to quit the high road, & (toil erased) attempt a very rough Lane, were overturned] substituted for were on quitting the high road, & toiling up a very long steep hill through a rough Lane, overturned
8. [half rock, half sand] added above the line