Chapter 1 - Page 2

declining years in son, an officer in the army; and,
moreover, that he has couple of fine daughters; so, sir, he is a man of
family in one sense, at least, you see. But," dropping his voice, "whether
he is a man of family in your sense, Jane," looking at his second sister,
"is more than I could discover."

"I hope you did not take the trouble, sir, to inquire on my account,"
retorted Jane, coloring slightly with vexation at his speech.

"Indeed I did, my dear sis, and solely on your account," replied the
laughing brother, "for you well know that no gentility, no husband; and
it's dull work to you young ladies without at least a possibility of
matrimony; as for Clara, she is----"

Here he was stopped by his youngest sister Emily placing her hand on his
mouth, as she whispered in his ear, "John, you forget the anxiety of a
certain gentleman about a fair incognita at Bath, and a list of inquiries
concerning her lineage, and a few other indispensables." John, in his
turn, colored, and affectionately kissing the hand which kept him silent,
addressed himself to Jane, and by his vivacity and good humor soon
restored her to complacency.

"I rejoice," said Lady Moseley, "that Sir William has found a tenant,
however; for next to occupying it himself, it is a most desirable thing to
have a good tenant in it, on account of the circle in which we live."

"And Mr. Jarvis has the great goodness of money, by John's account,"
caustically observed Mrs. Wilson, who was a sister of Sir Edward's.

"Let me tell you, madam," cried the rector of the parish, looking around
him pleasantly, and who was pretty constant, and always a welcome visitor
in the family, "that a great deal of money is a very good thing in itself,
and that a great many very good things may be done with it."

"Such as paying tythes, ha! doctor," cried Mr. Haughton, a gentleman of
landed property in the neighborhood, of plain exterior, but great goodness
of heart, and between whom and the rector subsisted the most cordial good
will.

"Aye, tythes, or halves, as the baronet did here, when he forgave old
Gregson one half his rent, and his children the other."

"Well, but, my dear," said Sir Edward to his wife, "you must not starve
our friends because we are to have a neighbor. William has stood with the
dining-room door open these five minutes--"

Lady Moseley gave her hand to the rector, and the company followed them,
without any order, to the dinner table.

The party assembled around the hospitable board of the baronet was
composed, besides the before-mentioned persons, of the wife