XVIII

Lady Susan

by Jane Austen

XVIII, LADY SUSAN by Jane Austen


FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME


Churchhill.


My dear Mother,--I am very glad to find that my description of Frederica
Vernon has interested you, for I do believe her truly deserving of your
regard; and when I have communicated a notion which has recently struck me,
your kind impressions in her favour will, I am sure, be heightened. I
cannot help fancying that she is growing partial to my brother. I so very
often see her eyes fixed on his face with a remarkable expression of
pensive admiration. He is certainly very handsome; and yet more, there is
an openness in his manner that must be highly prepossessing, and I am sure
she feels it so. Thoughtful and pensive in general, her countenance always
brightens into a smile when Reginald says anything amusing; and, let the
subject be ever so serious that he may be conversing on, I am much mistaken
if a syllable of his uttering escapes her. I want to make him sensible of
all this, for we know the power of gratitude on such a heart as his; and
could Frederica's artless affection detach him from her mother, we might
bless the day which brought her to Churchhill. I think, my dear mother, you
would not disapprove of her as a daughter. She is extremely young, to be
sure, has had a wretched education, and a dreadful example of levity in her
mother; but yet I can pronounce her disposition to be excellent, and her
natural abilities very good. Though totally without accomplishments, she is
by no means so ignorant as one might expect to find her, being fond of
books and spending the chief of her time in reading. Her mother leaves her
more to herself than she did, and I have her with me as much as possible,
and have taken great pains to overcome her timidity. We are very good
friends, and though she never opens her lips before her mother, she talks
enough when alone with me to make it clear that, if properly treated by
Lady Susan, she would always appear to much greater advantage. There cannot
be a more gentle, affectionate heart; or more obliging manners, when acting
without restraint; and her little cousins are all very fond of her.

Your affectionate daughter,

C. VERNON