Page:Jane Austen (Sarah Fanny Malden 1889).djvu/76

business. He wished him at the devil, with all his heart. He would not speak another word to him, meet him where he might, for all the world; no, not if it were to be by the side of Barton Covert, and they were kept waiting for two hours together. Such a scoundrel of a fellow! such a deceitful dog!" Mrs. Jennings, who, like everyone else that saw them together, had believed Marianne and Willoughby to be formally though secretly engaged, is equally furious with him, and full of pity for her, but can soon console herself with prophecies of better things in store for Marianne. "'Well, my dear, 'tis a true saying about an ill wind, for it will be all the better for Colonel Brandon. I hope he will come to-night. It will be all to one a better match for your sister. Two thousand a year without debt or drawback. . . . Delaford is a nice place, I can tell you; exactly what I call a nice old-fashioned place, full of comforts and conveniences, quite shut in with great garden-walls that are covered with the best fruit-trees in the country, and such a mulberry-tree in the corner. . . . Then there is a dove-cote, some delightful stew-ponds, and a very pretty canal, and everything, in short, that one could wish for; and, moreover, it is close to the church, and only a quarter of a mile from the turnpike road, so 'tis never dull, for if you only go and sit up in an old yew arbour behind the house you may see all the carriages that pass along. Oh, 'tis a nice place!'" In spite of all these attractions Elinor is not hopeful of inducing Marianne to bestow her thoughts upon Colonel Brandon, who, on his part, is deeply grieved at the blow to Marianne, and, putting his own feelings completely aside, is only anxious to be of as much use to both the sisters as he can.