apparently there is only one -- in the community of Pammydiddle, Charles Adams. When Lucy says of Charles that she could "not resist his attractions," Alice laments with a "deep sigh," longingly exclaiming, "Ah! Who can" (21). These attractions are, of course, sexual. [6] Austen unabashedly normalizes her female characters' panting longings and shows how those cravings to satiate unfulfilled love (and sheer erotic desires) through inebriation coincide with the extreme deprivation to which the characters are subjected. The story illustrates this deprivation when it describes how, at the masquerade birthday party, Charles dresses in a costume that perfectly exemplifies his extraordinary status, gained simply by the fact of being the only prospective husband around: Of the Males a Mask representing the Sun, was the most universally admired. The Beams that darted from his Eyes were like those of that glorious Luminary tho' infinitely superior. So strong were they that no one dared venture within half a mile of them; he had therefore the best part of the Room to himself, its size not amounting to more than 3 quarters of a mile in length & half a one in breadth. The Gentleman at last finding the feirceness [sic] of his beams to be very inconvenient to the concourse by obliging them to croud together in one corner of the room, half shut his eyes by which means, the Company discovered him to be Charles Adams in his plain green Coat, without any mask at all. (13) Here in this