d him directly that she should not stand
upon ceremony

Mrs. Ferrars

Drawing him a little aside

In a whisper

"You have heard, I suppose"

Talking over the business

"She put in the feather last night"

Listening at the door

Both gained considerable amusement

"Of one thing I may assure you"

Showing her child to the housekeeper

The gardener's lamentations

Opened a window-shutter

"I entreat you to stay"

"I was formally dismissed"

"I have entered many a shop to avoid your sight"

"And see how the children go on"

"I suppose you know, ma'am, that Mr. Ferrars is married"

It _was_ Edward

"Everything in such respectable condition"

* * * * *

CHAPTER I

The family of Dashwood had long been settled in Sussex. Their estate
was large, and their residence was at Norland Park, in the centre of
their property, where, for many generations, they had lived in so
respectable a manner as to engage the general good opinion of their
surrounding acquaintance. The late owner of this estate was a single
man, who lived to a very advanced age, and who for many years of his
life, had a constant companion and housekeeper in his sister. But her
death, which happened ten years before his own, produced a great
alteration in his home; for to supply her loss, he invited and
received into his house the family of his nephew Mr. Henry Dashwood,
the legal inheritor of the Norland estate, and the person to whom he
intended to bequeath it. In the society of his nephew and niece, and
their children, the old Gentleman's days were comfortably spent. His
attachment to them all increased. The constant attention of Mr. and
Mrs. Henry Dashwood to his wishes, which proceeded not merely from
interest, but from goodness of heart, gave him every degree of solid
comfort which his age could receive; and the cheerfulness of the
children added a relish to his existence.

By a former marriage, Mr. Henry Dashwood had one son: by his present
lady, three daughters. The son, a steady respectable young man, was
amply provided for by the fortune of his mother, which had been large,
and half of which devolved on him on his coming of age. By his own
marriage, likewise, which happened soon afterwards, he added to his
wealth. To him therefore the succession to the Norland estate was not
so really important as to his sisters; for their fortune, independent
of what might arise to them from their fathe