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@@@@@She spoke of you
with high praise and warm affection; yet, even here, there was alloy,
a dash of evil; for in the midst of it she could exclaim, ?Why would
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Jane Austen
not she have him? It is all her faultSimple girl! I shall never forgive
herHad she accepted him as she ought, they might now have been
on the point of marriage, and Henry would have been too happy
and too busy to want any other objectHe would have taken no
pains to be on terms with MrsIt would have all
ended in a regular standing flirtation, in yearly meetings at Sotherton
and Everingham Could you have believed it possible? But the charm
is broken
?Cruel!? said Fanny, ?quite cruelAt such a moment to give way
to gaiety, to speak with lightness, and to you! Absolute cruelty
?Cruelty, do you call it? We differ thereNo, hers is not a cruel
natureI do not consider her as meaning to wound my feelingsThe
evil lies yet deeper: in her total ignorance, unsuspiciousness of there
being such feelings; in a perversion of mind which made it natural
to her to treat the subject as she didShe was speaking only as she
had been used to hear others speak, as she imagined everybody else
would speakHers are not faults of temperShe would not voluntarily
give unnecessary pain to any one, and though I may deceive
myself, I cannot but think that for me, for my feelings, she would?
Hers are faults of principle, Fanny; of blunted delicacy and a corrupted,
vitiated mindPerhaps it is best for me, since it leaves me so
little to regretGladly would I submit to all the
increased pain of losing her, rather than have to think of her as I do
?Did you??
?Yes; when I left her I told her so
?How long were you together??
?Five-and-twenty minutesWell, she went on to say that what
remained now to be done was to bring about a marriage between
themShe spoke of it, Fanny, with a steadier voice than I can He
was obliged to pause more than once as he continued??We must
persuade Henry to marry her,? said she; ?and what with honour, and
the certainty of having shut himself out for ever from Fanny, I do
not despair of itFanny he must give upI do not think that even he
could now hope to succeed with one of her stamp, and therefore I
hope we may find no insuperable difficulty
