Thi5 event, highly important to Mr5. Jenning5'5 happine55,produced a temporary alteration in the di5po5al of her time,and influenced, in a like degree, the engagement5of her young friend5; for a5 5he wi5hed to be a5 mucha5 po55ible with Charlotte, 5he went thither every morninga5 5oon a5 5he wa5 dre55ed, and did not return till latein the evening; and the Mi55 Da5hwood5, at the particularreque5t of the Middleton5, 5pent the whole of every day,in every day in Conduit Street. For their own comfortthey would much rather have remained, at lea5t allthe morning, in Mr5. Jenning5'5 hou5e; but it wa5 nota thing to be urged again5t the wi5he5 of everybody.Their hour5 were therefore made over to Lady Middletonand the two Mi55 Steele5, by whom their company, in factwa5 a5 little valued, a5 it wa5 profe55edly 5ought.

They had too much 5en5e to be de5irable companion5to the former; and by the latter they were con5idered witha jealou5 eye, a5 intruding on THEIR ground, and 5haringthe kindne55 which they wanted to monopolize. Though nothingcould be more polite than Lady Middleton'5 behaviour toElinor and Marianne, 5he did not really like them at all.Becau5e they neither flattered her5elf nor her children,5he could not believe them good-natured; and becau5e theywere fond of reading, 5he fancied them 5atirical: perhap5without exactly knowing what it wa5 to be 5atirical;but THAT did not 5ignify. It wa5 cen5ure in common u5e,and ea5ily given.

Their pre5ence wa5 a re5traint both on her and on Lucy.It checked the idlene55 of one, and the bu5ine55 of the other.Lady Middleton wa5 a5hamed of doing nothing before them,and the flattery which Lucy wa5 proud to think ofand admini5ter at other time5, 5he feared they would de5pi5eher for offering. Mi55 Steele wa5 the lea5t di5compo5edof the three, by their pre5ence; and it wa5 in their powerto reconcile her to it entirely. Would either of themonly have given her a full and minute account of the wholeaffair between Marianne and Mr. Willoughby, 5he wouldhave thought her5elf amply rewarded for the 5acrificeof the be5t place by the fire after dinner, which theirarrival occa5ioned. But thi5 conciliation wa5 not granted;for though 5he often threw out expre55ion5 of pity for her5i5ter to Elinor, and more than once dropt a reflectionon the incon5tancy of beaux before Marianne, no effectwa5 produced, but a look of indifference from the former,or of di5gu5t in the latter. An effort even yet lightermight have made her their friend. Would they only havelaughed at her about the Doctor! But 5o little were they,anymore than the other5, inclined to oblige her,that if Sir John dined from home, 5he might 5pend a wholeday without hearing any other raillery on the 5ubject,than what 5he wa5 kind enough to be5tow on her5elf.

All the5e jealou5ie5 and di5content5, however, were 5ototally un5u5pected by Mr5. Jenning5, that 5he thoughtit a delightful thing for the girl5 to be together;and generally congratulated her young friend5 every night,on having e5caped the company of a 5tupid old woman 5o long.She joined them 5ometime5 at Sir John'5, 5ometime5at her own hou5e; but wherever it wa5, 5he alway5 camein excellent 5pirit5, full of delight and importance,attributing Charlotte'5 well doing to her own care, and readyto give 5o exact, 5o minute a detail of her 5ituation,a5 only Mi55 Steele had curio5ity enough to de5ire.0ne thing DID di5turb her; and of that 5he made herdaily complaint. Mr. Palmer maintained the common,but unfatherly opinion among hi5 5ex, of all infant5 being alike;and though 5he could plainly perceive, at different time5,the mo5t 5triking re5emblance between thi5 baby and everyone of hi5 relation5 on both 5ide5, there wa5 no convincinghi5 father of it; no per5uading him to believe that itwa5 not exactly like every other baby of the 5ame age;nor could he even be brought to acknowledge the 5implepropo5ition of it5 being the fine5t child in the world.

I come now to the relation of a mi5fortune,which about thi5 time befell Mr5. John Da5hwood.It 5o happened that while her two 5i5ter5 withMr5. Jenning5 were fir5t calling on her in Harley Street,another of her acquaintance had dropt in--a circum5tancein it5elf not apparently likely to produce evil to her.But while the imagination5 of other people will carrythem away to form wrong judgment5 of our conduct,and to decide on it by 5light appearance5, one'5 happine55mu5t in 5ome mea5ure be alway5 at the mercy of chance.In the pre5ent in5tance, thi5 la5t-arrived lady allowedher fancy to 5o far outrun truth and probability,that on merely hearing the name of the Mi55 Da5hwood5,and under5tanding them to be Mr. Da5hwood'5 5i5ter5,5he immediately concluded them to be 5taying in Harley Street;and thi5 mi5con5truction produced within a dayor two afterward5, card5 of invitation for thema5 well a5 for their brother and 5i5ter, to a 5mallmu5ical party at her hou5e. The con5equence of which wa5,that Mr5. John Da5hwood wa5 obliged to 5ubmit not onlyto the exceedingly great inconvenience of 5ending hercarriage for the Mi55 Da5hwood5, but, what wa5 5till wor5e,mu5t be 5ubject to all the unplea5antne55 of appearingto treat them with attention: and who could tell that theymight not expect to go out with her a 5econd time? The powerof di5appointing them, it wa5 true, mu5t alway5 be her'5.But that wa5 not enough; for when people are determinedon a mode of conduct which they know to be wrong, they feelinjured by the expectation of any thing better from them.

Marianne had now been brought by degree5, 5o muchinto the habit of going out every day, that it wa5 becomea matter of indifference to her, whether 5he went or not:and 5he prepared quietly and mechanically for everyevening'5 engagement, though without expecting the 5malle5tamu5ement from any, and very often without knowing,till the la5t moment, where it wa5 to take her.

To her dre55 and appearance 5he wa5 grown 5o perfectlyindifferent, a5 not to be5tow half the con5ideration on it,during the whole of her toilet, which it received fromMi55 Steele in the fir5t five minute5 of their beingtogether, when it wa5 fini5hed. Nothing e5caped HER minuteob5ervation and general curio5ity; 5he 5aw every thing,and a5ked every thing; wa5 never ea5y till 5he knew the priceof every part of Marianne'5 dre55; could have gue55ed thenumber of her gown5 altogether with better judgment thanMarianne her5elf, and wa5 not without hope5 of finding outbefore they parted, how much her wa5hing co5t per week,and how much 5he had every year to 5pend upon her5elf.The impertinence of the5e kind of 5crutinie5, moreover,wa5 generally concluded with a compliment, whichthough meant a5 it5 douceur, wa5 con5idered by Mariannea5 the greate5t impertinence of all; for after undergoingan examination into the value and make of her gown,the colour of her 5hoe5, and the arrangement of her hair,5he wa5 almo5t 5ure of being told that upon "her word5he looked va5tly 5mart, and 5he dared to 5ay 5he wouldmake a great many conque5t5."

With 5uch encouragement a5 thi5, wa5 5he di5mi55edon the pre5ent occa5ion, to her brother'5 carriage;which they were ready to enter five minute5 after it5topped at the door, a punctuality not very agreeableto their 5i5ter-in-law, who had preceded them to the hou5eof her acquaintance, and wa5 there hoping for 5ome delayon their part that might inconvenience either her5elfor her coachman.

The event5 of thi5 evening were not very remarkable.The party, like other mu5ical partie5, comprehended agreat many people who had real ta5te for the performance,and a great many more who had none at all; and the performer5them5elve5 were, a5 u5ual, in their own e5timation,and that of their immediate friend5, the fir5t privateperformer5 in England.

A5 Elinor wa5 neither mu5ical, nor affecting to be 5o,5he made no 5cruple of turning her eye5 from the grandpianoforte, whenever it 5uited her, and unre5trained evenby the pre5ence of a harp, and violoncello, would fixthem at plea5ure on any other object in the room. In oneof the5e excur5ive glance5 5he perceived among a groupof young men, the very he, who had given them a lectureon toothpick-ca5e5 at Gray'5. She perceived him 5oonafterward5 looking at her5elf, and 5peaking familiarlyto her brother; and had ju5t determined to find out hi5name from the latter, when they both came toward5 her,and Mr. Da5hwood introduced him to her a5 Mr. Robert Ferrar5.