Sanditon by Jane Austen & Kathryn Sutherland

Author:Jane Austen & Kathryn Sutherland
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2019-05-20T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 5

When they met before dinner, Mr. Parker was looking over Letters.—‘Not a Line from Sidney!’—said he.—‘He is an idle fellow.—I sent him an account of my accident from Willingden, and thought he would have vouchsafed me an Answer.—But perhaps it implies that he is coming himself.—I trust it may.—But here is a Letter from one of my Sisters. They never fail me.—Women are the only Correspondents to be depended on.—Now Mary, (smiling at his Wife)—before I open it, what shall we guess as to the state of health of those it comes from—or rather what would Sidney say if he were here?—Sidney is a saucy fellow, Miss Heywood—And you must know, he will have it there is a good deal of Imagination in my two Sisters’ complaints—but it really is not so—or very little—They have wretched health, as you have heard us frequently say, and are subject to a variety of very serious Disorders.—Indeed, I do not beleive they know what a day’s health is;—and at the same time, they are such excellent useful Women and have so much energy of character that, where any Good is to be done, they force themselves on exertions which to those who do not thoroughly know them, have an extraordinary appearance.—But there is really no affectation about them. They have only weaker constitutions and stronger minds than are often met with, either separate or together.—And our youngest Brother—who lives with them, and who is not much above twenty, I am sorry to say, is almost as great an Invalid as themselves.—He is so delicate that he can engage in no Profession.—Sidney laughs at him—but it really is no Joke—though Sidney often makes me laugh at them all inspite of myself.—Now, if he were here, I know he would be offering odds, that either Susan, Diana or Arthur would appear by this Letter to have been at the point of death within the last month.’

Having run his eye over the Letter, he shook his head and began ‘No chance of seeing them at Sanditon I am sorry to say.—A very indifferent account of them indeed. Seriously, a very indifferent account.—Mary, you will be quite sorry to hear how ill they have been and are.—Miss Heywood, if you will give me leave, I will read Diana’s Letter aloud.—I like to have my friends acquainted with each other—and I am afraid this is the only sort of acquaintance I shall have the means of accomplishing between you.—And I can have no scruple on Diana’s account—for her Letters shew her exactly as she is, the most active, friendly, warmhearted Being in existence, and therefore must give a good impression.’

He read.—‘My dear Tom, We were all much greived at your accident, and if you had not described yourself as fallen into such very good hands, I should have been with you at all hazards the day after the receipt of your Letter, though it found me suffering under a more severe attack than usual of my old greivance, Spasmodic Bile* and hardly able to crawl from my Bed to the Sofa.

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