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"What a piece of work here is about nothing,—I am quite ashamed of you, Fanny, to make such a difficulty of obliging your Cousins in a trifle of this sort,—So kind as they are to you!—Take the part with a good grace, and let us hear no more of the matter, I entreat."

"Do not urge her, Madam," said Edmund. "It is not fair to urge her in this manner.—You see she does not like to act.—Let her chuse for herself as well as the rest of us.—Her judgment may be quite as safely trusted.—Do not urge her any more."

"I am not going to urge her,"—replied Mrs. Norris sharply, "but I shall think her a very obstinate, ungrateful girl, if she does not do what her Aunt, and Cousins wish her—very ungrateful indeed, considering who and what she is."

Edmund was too angry to speak; but Miss Crawford looking for a moment with astonished eyes at Mrs. Norris,

and