castle square, sunday (november 21).
your letter, my dear cassandra, obliges me to write immediately, that you may have the earliest notice of frank's intending, if possible, to go to godmersham exactly at the time now fixed for your visit to goodnestone.
he resolved, almost directly on the receipt of your former letter, to try for an extension of his leave of absence, that he might be able to go down to you for two days, but charged me not to give you any notice of it, on account of the uncertainty of success. now, however, i must give it, and now perhaps he may be giving it himself; for i am just in the hateful predicament of being obliged to write what i know will somehow or other be of no use.
he meant to ask for five days more, and if they were granted, to go down by thursday night's mail, and spend friday and saturday with you; and he considered his chance of succeeding by no means bad. i hope it will take place as he planned,[116] and that your arrangements with goodnestone may admit of suitable alteration.
your news of edward bridges was quite news, for i have had no letter from wrotham. i wish him happy with all my heart, and hope his choice may turn out according to his own expectations, and beyond those of his family; and i dare say it will. marriage is a great improver, and in a similar situation harriet may be as amiable as eleanor. as to money, that will come, you may be sure, because they cannot do without it. when you see him again, pray give him our congratulations and best wishes. this match will certainly set john and lucy going.
there are six bedchambers at chawton; henry wrote to my mother the other day, and luckily mentioned the number, which is just what we wanted to be assured of. he speaks also of garrets for store-places, one of which she immediately planned fitting up for edward's man-servant; and now perhaps it must be for our own; for she is already quite reconciled to our keeping one. the difficulty of doing without one had been thought of before. his name shall be robert, if you please.
before i can tell you of it, you will have heard that miss sawbridge is married. it took place, i believe, on thursday. mrs. fowle has for some time been in the secret, but the neighborhood in[117] general were quite unsuspicious. mr. maxwell was tutor to the young gregorys,—consequently, they must be one of the happiest couples in the world, and either of them worthy of envy, for she must be excessively in love, and he mounts from nothing to a comfortable home. martha has heard him very highly spoken of. they continue for the present at speen hill.
i have a southampton match to return for your kentish one, captain g. heathcote and miss a. lyell. i have it from alethea, and like it, because i had made it before.
yes, the stoneleigh business is concluded, but it was not till yesterday that my mother was regularly informed of it, though the news had reached us on monday evening by way of steventon. my aunt says as little as may be on the subject by way of information, and nothing at all by way of satisfaction. she reflects on mr. t. leigh's dilatoriness, and looks about with great diligence and success for inconvenience and evil, among which she ingeniously places the danger of her new housemaids catching cold on the outside of the coach, when she goes down to bath, for a carriage makes her sick.
john binns has been offered their place, but declines it; as she supposes, because he will not wear a livery. whatever be the cause, i like the effect.
[118]
in spite of all my mother's long and intimate knowledge of the writer, she was not up to the expectation of such a letter as this; the discontentedness of it shocked and surprised her—but i see nothing in it out of nature, though a sad nature.
she does not forget to wish for chambers, you may be sure. no particulars are given, not a word of arrears mentioned, though in her letter to james they were in a general way spoken of. the amount of them is a matter of conjecture, and to my mother a most interesting one; she cannot fix any time for their beginning with any satisfaction to herself but mrs. leigh's death, and henry's two thousand pounds neither agrees with that period nor any other. i did not like to own our previous information of what was intended last july, and have therefore only said that if we could see henry we might hear many particulars, as i had understood that some confidential conversation had passed between him and mr. t. l. at stoneleigh.
we have been as quiet as usual since frank and mary left us; mr. criswick called on martha that very morning on his way home again from portsmouth, and we have had no visitor since.
we called on the miss lyells one day, and heard a good account of mr. heathcote's canvass, the success of which, of course, exceeds his expectations. alethea in her letter hopes for my interest, which i conclude means edward's, and i take[119] this opportunity, therefore, of requesting that he will bring in mr. heathcote. mr. lane told us yesterday that mr. h. had behaved very handsomely, and waited on mr. thistlethwaite, to say that if he (mr. t.) would stand, he (mr. h.) would not oppose him; but mr. t. declined it, acknowledging himself still smarting under the payment of late electioneering costs.
the mrs. hulberts, we learn from kintbury, come to steventon this week, and bring mary jane fowle with them on her way to mrs. nune's; she returns at christmas with her brother.
our brother we may perhaps see in the course of a few days, and we mean to take the opportunity of his help to go one night to the play. martha ought to see the inside of the theatre once while she lives in southampton, and i think she will hardly wish to take a second view.
the furniture of bellevue is to be sold to-morrow, and we shall take it in our usual walk, if the weather be favorable.
how could you have a wet day on thursday? with us it was a prince of days, the most delightful we have had for weeks; soft, bright, with a brisk wind from the southwest; everybody was out and talking of spring, and martha and i did not know how to turn back. on friday evening we had some very blowing weather,—from six to nine; i think we never heard it worse, even here. and[120] one night we had so much rain that it forced its way again into the store-closet; and though the evil was comparatively slight and the mischief nothing, i had some employment the next day in drying parcels, etc. i have now moved still more out of the way.
martha sends her best love, and thanks you for admitting her to the knowledge of the pros and cons about harriet foote; she has an interest in all such matters. i am also to say that she wants to see you. mary jane missed her papa and mamma a good deal at first, but now does very well without them. i am glad to hear of little john's being better, and hope your accounts of mrs. knight will also improve. adieu! remember me affectionately to everybody, and believe me,
ever yours, j. a.
miss austen, edward austen's, esq.,
godmersham park, faversham, kent.
