as he had himself experienced from lady she had been graciously pleased to approve of both the which he had already had the honour of preaching before her she had also asked him twice to dine at and had sent for him only the saturday before to make up her pool of in the evening lady was reckoned proud by many people he knew but he had never seen any thing but in her she had always spoken to him as she would to any other gentleman i e made not the smallest objection to his joining in the society of the neighbourhood nor to bis leaving his parish occasionally for a week or two to visit his relations she had even condescended to advise him to marry as soon as he could provided he chose with discretion and had once paid him a visit in his humble where she had perfectly approved all the alterations he had been making and had even vouchsafed to suggest some � some shelves in the up stairs that is all very proper and civil i am sure said mrs and i dare say she is a very agreeable woman it is a pity that great ladies in general are not more like her does she live near you sir the garden in which stands my humble abode is separated only by a lane from park her lady ship s residence i think you said she was a widow sir has she any family she has one only daughter the of and of very extensive property ah cried mrs shaking her head then she is better off than many girls and what sort of lady is she is she handsome she is a charming young lady indeed lady herself says that in point of true beauty miss de is far superior to the of her sex because there is that in her w v xv b j woman of distinguished birth v i e and constitution which has prevented her making thai progress in many accomplishments which she could otherwise have failed of as i am informed by the lady who her education and who still with them but she is perfectly amiable and often con to drive by my humble abode in her little and has she been presented i do not remember her name among the ladies at court her indifferent state of health unhappily prevents her being in town and by that means as i told lady myself one day has deprived the british court of its bright est ornament her seemed pleased with the idea and you may imagine that i am happy on every occasion to o r those little delicate compliments which are always acceptable to ladies i have more than once observed to lady that her charming daughter seemed bom to be a and that the most elevated rank instead of giving her consequence would be adorned by her these are the kind of little things which please her ship and it is a sort of attention which i conceive myself peculiarly bound to pay you judge very properly said mr and il is happy for you that you possess the talent of flattering with delicacy may i ask whether these pleasing tions proceed from the impulse of the moment or are the result of previous study they arise chiefly from what is passing at the time and though i sometimes amuse myself with suggesting and arranging such little elegant compliments as may be adapted to ordinary occasions i always wish to give them as an air as possible mr s expectations were fully answered his cousin was as absurd as he had hoped and he listened to him with the keenest enjoyment maintaining at the same time the most resolute composure of countenance and except in an occasional glance at elizabeth requiring no partner in his pleasure by however the dose had mr was glad to take his w� v pride and prejudice room again and when tea was over glad to invite him to read aloud to the ladies mr readily assented and book was produced but on beholding it for every thing announced it to be from a library he started back and begging pardon protested that he never read novels stared at him and exclaimed other books were produced and after some deliberation he chose s sermons as he opened the volume and before he had with very monotonous solemnity read three pages she interrupted him with � do you know mamma that my uncle talks of turning away richard and if he does colonel will hire him my aunt told me so herself on saturday i shall walk to to morrow to hear more about it and to ask when mr comes back from town was bid by her two eldest sisters to hold her tongue but mr much offended laid aside his book and said � i have often observed how little young ladies are in by books of a serious stamp though written solely for their benefit it me i confess for certainly there can be nothing so advantageous to them as instruction but i will no longer my young cousin then turning to mr he offered himself as his at mr accepted the challenge observing that he acted very wisely in leaving the girls to their own trifling amusements mrs and her daughters most for s interruption and promised that it should not occur again if he would resume his book but mr after assuring them that he bore his young cousin no and should never resent her behaviour as any seated himself at another table with mr ai d prepared for pride and prejudice chapter xv mr was not a sensible and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society the greatest part of his life having been spent under the of an and father and though he belonged to one of the 