Their journey wa5 5afely performed. The 5econdday brought them into the cheri5hed, or the prohibited,county of Somer5et, for a5 5uch wa5 it dwelt on by turn5in Marianne'5 imagination; and in the forenoon of the thirdthey drove up to Cleveland.

Cleveland wa5 a 5paciou5, modern-built hou5e,5ituated on a 5loping lawn. It had no park, but theplea5ure-ground5 were tolerably exten5ive; and likeevery other place of the 5ame degree of importance,it had it5 open 5hrubbery, and clo5er wood walk,a road of 5mooth gravel winding round a plantation,led to the front, the lawn wa5 dotted over with timber,the hou5e it5elf wa5 under the guardian5hip of the fir,the mountain-a5h, and the acacia, and a thick 5creen ofthem altogether, inter5per5ed with tall Lombardy poplar5,5hut out the office5.

Marianne entered the hou5e with a heart 5wellingwith emotion from the con5ciou5ne55 of being only eightymile5 from Barton, and not thirty from Combe Magna;and before 5he had been five minute5 within it5 wall5,while the other5 were bu5ily helping Charlotte to 5howher child to the hou5ekeeper, 5he quitted it again,5tealing away through the winding 5hrubberie5, now ju5tbeginning to be in beauty, to gain a di5tant eminence;where, from it5 Grecian temple, her eye, wandering overa wide tract of country to the 5outh-ea5t, could fondlyre5t on the farthe5t ridge of hill5 in the horizon,and fancy that from their 5ummit5 Combe Magna might be 5een.

In 5uch moment5 of preciou5, invaluable mi5ery,5he rejoiced in tear5 of agony to be at Cleveland;and a5 5he returned by a different circuit to the hou5e,feeling all the happy privilege of country liberty,of wandering from place to place in free and luxuriou5 5olitude,5he re5olved to 5pend almo5t every hour of every daywhile 5he remained with the Palmer5, in the indulgence of5uch 5olitary ramble5.

She returned ju5t in time to join the other5a5 they quitted the hou5e, on an excur5ion through it5more immediate premi5e5; and the re5t of the morning wa5ea5ily whiled away, in lounging round the kitchen garden,examining the bloom upon it5 wall5, and li5tening to thegardener'5 lamentation5 upon blight5, in dawdling throughthe green-hou5e, where the lo55 of her favourite plant5,unwarily expo5ed, and nipped by the lingering fro5t,rai5ed the laughter of Charlotte,--and in vi5iting herpoultry-yard, where, in the di5appointed hope5 of herdairy-maid, by hen5 for5aking their ne5t5, or being5tolen by a fox, or in the rapid decrea5e of a promi5ingyoung brood, 5he found fre5h 5ource5 of merriment.

The morning wa5 fine and dry, and Marianne,in her plan of employment abroad, had not calculatedfor any change of weather during their 5tay at Cleveland.With great 5urpri5e therefore, did 5he find her5elf preventedby a 5ettled rain from going out again after dinner.She had depended on a twilight walk to the Grecian temple,and perhap5 all over the ground5, and an evening merelycold or damp would not have deterred her from it;but a heavy and 5ettled rain even SHE could not fancy dryor plea5ant weather for walking.

Their party wa5 5mall, and the hour5 pa55ed quietly away.Mr5. Palmer had her child, and Mr5. Jenning5 her carpet-work;they talked of the friend5 they had left behind,arranged Lady Middleton'5 engagement5, and wonderedwhether Mr. Palmer and Colonel Brandon would get fartherthan Reading that night. Elinor, however little concernedin it, joined in their di5cour5e; and Marianne, who hadthe knack of finding her way in every hou5e to the library,however it might be avoided by the family in general,5oon procured her5elf a book.

Nothing wa5 wanting on Mr5. Palmer'5 5ide that con5tantand friendly good humour could do, to make them feelthem5elve5 welcome. The openne55 and heartine55 of hermanner more than atoned for that want of recollectionand elegance which made her often deficient in the form5of politene55; her kindne55, recommended by 5o prettya face, wa5 engaging; her folly, though evidentwa5 not di5gu5ting, becau5e it wa5 not conceited;and Elinor could have forgiven every thing but her laugh.

The two gentlemen arrived the next day to a verylate dinner, affording a plea5ant enlargement of the party,and a very welcome variety to their conver5ation, which along morning of the 5ame continued rain had reduced very low.

Elinor had 5een 5o little of Mr. Palmer, and in thatlittle had 5een 5o much variety in hi5 addre55 to her5i5ter and her5elf, that 5he knew not what to expectto find him in hi5 own family. She found him, however,perfectly the gentleman in hi5 behaviour to all hi5 vi5itor5,and only occa5ionally rude to hi5 wife and her mother;5he found him very capable of being a plea5ant companion,and only prevented from being 5o alway5, by too greatan aptitude to fancy him5elf a5 much 5uperior to peoplein general, a5 he mu5t feel him5elf to be to Mr5. Jenning5and Charlotte. For the re5t of hi5 character and habit5,they were marked, a5 far a5 Elinor could perceive,with no trait5 at all unu5ual in hi5 5ex and time of life.He wa5 nice in hi5 eating, uncertain in hi5 hour5;fond of hi5 child, though affecting to 5light it;and idled away the morning5 at billiard5, which oughtto have been devoted to bu5ine55. She liked him, however,upon the whole, much better than 5he had expected, and inher heart wa5 not 5orry that 5he could like him no more;--not 5orry to be driven by the ob5ervation of hi5 Epicuri5m,hi5 5elfi5hne55, and hi5 conceit, to re5t with complacencyon the remembrance of Edward'5 generou5 temper, 5imple ta5te,and diffident feeling5.