第51章

“Mydaughters，“repliedSirThomas，gravelyinterposing，“havetheirpleasuresatBrighton，andIhopeareveryhappy；

butthedancewhichIthinkofgivingatMansfieldwillbefortheircousins。Couldwebeallassembled，oursatisfactionwouldundoubtedlybemorecomplete，buttheabsenceofsomeisnottodebartheothersofamusement。“

Mrs。Norrishadnotanotherwordtosay。Shesawdecisioninhislooks，andhersurpriseandvexationrequiredsomeminutes’silencetobesettledintocomposure。

Aballatsuchatime!Hisdaughtersabsentandherselfnotconsulted!Therewascomfort，however，soonathand。

_She_mustbethedoerofeverything：LadyBertramwouldofcoursebesparedallthoughtandexertion，anditwouldallfallupon_her_。Sheshouldhavetodothehonoursoftheevening；andthisreflectionquicklyrestoredsomuchofhergood-humourasenabledhertojoininwiththeothers，beforetheirhappinessandthankswereallexpressed。

Edmund，William，andFannydid，intheirdifferentways，lookandspeakasmuchgratefulpleasureinthepromisedballasSirThomascoulddesire。Edmund’sfeelingswerefortheothertwo。Hisfatherhadneverconferredafavourorshewnakindnessmoretohissatisfaction。

LadyBertramwasperfectlyquiescentandcontented，andhadnoobjectionstomake。SirThomasengagedforitsgivingherverylittletrouble；andsheassuredhim“thatshewasnotatallafraidofthetrouble；

indeed，shecouldnotimaginetherewouldbeany。“

Mrs。Norriswasreadywithhersuggestionsastotheroomshewouldthinkfittesttobeused，butfounditallprearranged；

andwhenshewouldhaveconjecturedandhintedabouttheday，itappearedthatthedaywassettledtoo。

SirThomashadbeenamusinghimselfwithshapingaverycompleteoutlineofthebusiness；andassoonasshewouldlistenquietly，couldreadhislistofthefamiliestobeinvited，fromwhomhecalculated，withallnecessaryallowancefortheshortnessofthenotice，tocollectyoungpeopleenoughtoformtwelveorfourteencouple：

andcoulddetailtheconsiderationswhichhadinducedhimtofixonthe22ndasthemosteligibleday。

WilliamwasrequiredtobeatPortsmouthonthe24th；

the22ndwouldthereforebethelastdayofhisvisit；

butwherethedaysweresofewitwouldbeunwisetofixonanyearlier。Mrs。Norriswasobligedtobesatisfiedwiththinkingjustthesame，andwithhavingbeenonthepointofproposingthe22ndherself，asbyfarthebestdayforthepurpose。

Theballwasnowasettledthing，andbeforetheeveningaproclaimedthingtoallwhomitconcerned。Invitationsweresentwithdespatch，andmanyayoungladywenttobedthatnightwithherheadfullofhappycaresaswellasFanny。

Toherthecaresweresometimesalmostbeyondthehappiness；

foryoungandinexperienced，withsmallmeansofchoiceandnoconfidenceinherowntaste，the“howsheshouldbedressed“wasapointofpainfulsolicitude；

andthealmostsolitaryornamentinherpossession，averyprettyambercrosswhichWilliamhadbroughtherfromSicily，wasthegreatestdistressofall，forshehadnothingbutabitofribbontofastenitto；

andt

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