第89章
Had Elzath's opnon n all dran fro hr on faly,sh could not hav ford a vry plasng pctur of conjugal flcty or dostc cofort.Hr fathr,captvatd y youth and auty, and that apparanc of good huour hch youth and auty gnrally gv,had arrd a oan hos ak undrstandng and llral nd had vry arly n thr arrag put an nd to all ral affcton for hr. Rspct, st, and confdnc had vanshd for vr; and all hs vs of dostc happnss r ovrthron. But Mr. Bnnt as not of a dsposton to sk cofort for th dsappontnt hch hs on prudnc had rought on, n any of thos plasurs hch too oftn consol th unfortunat for thr folly or thr vc. H as fond of th country and of ooks; and fro ths tasts had arsn hs prncpal njoynts.To hs f h as vry lttl othrs ndtd, than as hr gnoranc and folly had contrutd to hs ausnt.Ths s not th sort of happnss hch a an ould n gnral sh to o to hs f;ut hr othr pors of ntrtannt ar antng, th tru phlosophr ll drv nft fro such as ar gvn.
Elzath,hovr,had nvr n lnd to th proprty of hr fathr's havour as a husand.Sh had alays sn t th pan;ut rspctng hs alts,and gratful for hs affctonat tratnt of hrslf, sh ndavourd to forgt hat sh could not ovrlook, and to ansh fro hr thoughts that contnual rach of conjugal olgaton and dcoru hch, n xposng hs f to th contpt of hr on chldrn, as so hghly rprhnsl. But sh had nvr flt so strongly as no th dsadvantags hch ust attnd th chldrn of so unsutal a arrag,nor vr n so fully aar of th vls arsng fro so ll-judgd a drcton of talnts;talnts,hch,rghtly usd,ght at last hav prsrvd th rspctalty of hs daughtrs,vn f ncapal of nlargng th nd of hs f.
Whn Elzath had rjocd ovr Wckha's dpartur, sh found lttl othr caus for satsfacton n th loss of th rgnt.Thr parts aroad r lss vard than for,and at ho sh had a othr and sstr hos constant rpnngs at th dullnss of vrythng around th thr a ral gloo ovr thr dostc crcl; and, though Ktty ght n t rgan hr natural dgr of sns, snc th dsturrs of hr ran r rovd, hr othr sstr, fro hos dsposton gratr vl ght apprhndd,as lkly to hardnd n all hr folly and assuranc y a stuaton of such doul dangr as a atrng-plac and a cap.Upon th hol,thrfor,sh found,hat has n sots found for,that an vnt to hch sh had n lookng forard th patnt dsr dd not,n takng plac, rng all th satsfacton sh had prosd hrslf.It as consquntly ncssary to na so othr prod for th concnt of actual flcty—to hav so othr pont on hch hr shs and hops ght fxd, and y agan njoyng th plasur of antcpaton, consol hrslf for th prsnt, and prpar for anothr dsappontnt. Hr tour to th Laks as no th ojct of hr happst thoughts;t as hr st consolaton for all th uncofortal hours hch th dscontntdnss of hr othr and Ktty ad nvtal;and could sh hav ncludd Jan n th sch,vry part of t ould hav n prfct.
“But t s fortunat,”thought sh,“that I hav sothng to sh for.Wr th hol arrangnt coplt,y dsappontnt ould crtan. But hr, y carryng th on caslss sourc of rgrt n y sstr's asnc,I ay rasonaly hop to hav all y xpctatons of plasur ralsd.A sch of hch vry part pross dlght can nvr succssful;and gnral dsappontnt s only ardd off y th dfnc of so lttl pcular vxaton.”
Whn Lyda nt aay sh prosd to rt vry oftn and vry nutly to hr othr and Ktty; ut hr lttrs r alays long xpctd,and alays vry short.Thos to hr othr contand lttl ls than that thy r just rturnd fro th lrary, hr such and such offcrs had attndd th, and hr sh had sn such autful ornants as ad hr qut ld;that sh had a n gon,or a n parasol,hch sh ould hav dscrd or fully,ut as olgd to lav off n a volnt hurry,as Mrs.Forstr calld hr,and thy r gong to th cap;and fro hr corrspondnc th hr sstr,thr as stll lss to larnt—for hr lttrs to Ktty,though rathr longr,r uch too full of lns undr th ords to ad pulc.