Page:Austen Sanditon and other miscellanea.djvu/46

and her large Income to his own Domains, but he could not succeed in the views of permanently enriching his family, which were attributed to him. She had been too wary to put anything out of her own Power, and when on Sir Harry’s Decease she returned again to her own House at Sanditon, she was said to have made this boast to a friend, ‘that though she had got nothing but her Title from the Family, still she had given nothing for it.’ For the Title, it was to be supposed that she had married—and Mr. Parker acknowledged there being just such a degree of value for it apparent now, as to give her conduct that natural explanation. ‘There is at times,’ said he, ‘a little self-importance, but it is not offensive; and there are moments, there are points, when her Love of Money is carried greatly too far. But she is a goodnatured Woman, a very goodnatured Woman, a very obliging, friendly Neighbour; a cheerful, independant, valuable character, and her faults may be entirely imputed to her want of Education. She has good natural Sense, but quite uncultivated. She has a fine active mind, as well as a fine healthy frame for a Woman of 70, and enters into the improvement of Sanditon with a spirit truly admirable, though now and then a Littleness will appear. She cannot look forward quite as I would have her, and takes alarm at a trifling present expense, without considering what returns it will make her in a year or two. That is, we think differently, we now and then see things differently, Miss Heywood. Those who tell their own Story you know must be listened to with Caution. When you see us in contact, you will judge for yourself.’ Lady Denham was indeed a great Lady beyond the common wants of Society, for she had many Thousands a year to bequeath, and three distinct sets of People to be courted by: her own relations, who might very reasonably wish for her Original Thirty Thousand Pounds among them, the legal Heirs of Mr. Hollis, who must