put in her power.
There was not a rare piece of furniture or apparel for which she did not
long; and one day, as she went to church, seeing Lady Stately's equipage
arrive, she suddenly fainted away. Her husband, whose vanity had never
been so perfectly gratified as with this promised harvest of his own
sowing, took the alarm immediately; and in order to prevent relapses of
that kind, which might be attended with fatal consequence to his hope,
gave her leave to bespeak a coach, horses, and liveries, to her own
liking. Thus authorized, she in a very little time exhibited such a
specimen of her own taste and magnificence as afforded speculation to
the whole country, and made Trunnion's heart quake within him; because
he foresaw no limits to her extravagance which also manifested itself in
the most expensive preparations for her lying-in.

Her pride, which had hitherto regarded the representative of her
father's house, seemed now to lose all that hereditary respect, and
prompt her to outshine and undervalue the elder branch of her family.
She behaved to Mrs. Pickle with a sort of civil reserve that implied a
conscious superiority; and an emulation in point of grandeur immediately
commenced between the two sisters. She every day communicated her
importance to the whole parish, under pretence of taking the air in
her coach, and endeavoured to extend her acquaintance among people of
fashion. Nor was this an undertaking attended with great difficulty, for
all persons whatever capable of maintaining a certain appearance, will
always find admission into what is called the best company, and be
rated in point of character according to their own valuation, without
subjecting their pretensions to the smallest doubt or examination. In
all her visits and parties she seized every opportunity of declaring her
present condition, observing that she was forbid by her physicians to
taste such a pickle, and that such a dish was poison to a woman in her
way; nay, where she was on a footing of familiarity, she affected to
make wry faces, and complained that the young rogue began to be very
unruly, writhing herself into divers contortions, as if she had been
grievously incommoded by the mettle of this future Trunnion. The husband
himself did not behave with all the moderation that might have been
expected. At the club he frequently mentioned this circumstance of his
own vigour as a pretty successful feat to be performed by an old fellow
of fift