was a mrs and that as i have been since informed is the name of miss grey s guardian it is but have you likewise heard that miss has fifty thousand pounds in that if in anything we may find an explanation it may be so but is capable � at least i think � he stopped a moment then added in a voice which seemed to distrust itself and your sister � how did she � her sufferings have been very severe i have only to hope that they may be short it has been it is a most cruel affliction till yesterday i believe she never doubted his regard and even now perhaps � but am almost convinced that he never was really attached to her he has been very and in some points there seems a hardness of heart about him said colonel is in sense and deed i but your sister does not � i think you said so � she does not consider it quite as you do you know her disposition and may believe how eagerly she would still justify him if she could he made no answer and soon afterwards by the removal of the tea things and the arrangement of the card parties the subject was necessarily dropped mrs who had watched them with pleasure while they were talking and who expected to see the effect of miss s communication in such an on colonel s side as might have become a man in the bloom of youth of hope and happiness saw him with amazement remain the whole evening more serious and thoughtful than usual iv a night of more sleep than she had expected awoke the next morning to the same consciousness of misery in which she had closed her eyes encouraged her as much as possible to talk of what she felt and before breakfast was ready they had gone through the subject again and again with the same steady conviction and counsel on s side the same impetuous feelings and varying opinions on s as before sometimes she could believe to be as unfortunate and as innocent as herself and at others lost every consolation in the impossibility of him at one moment she was absolutely indifferent to the observation of all the world at another she would herself from it forever and at a third could resist it with energy in one thing however she was uniform when it came to the point in avoiding where it was possible the presence of mrs and in a determined silence when obliged to endure it her heart was hardened against the belief of mrs sense and s entering into her sorrows with any compassion no no no it cannot be she cried she cannot feel her kindness is not sympathy her good nature is not tenderness all that she wants is gossip and she only likes me now because i supply it had not needed this to be assured of the injustice to which her sister was often led in her opinion of others by the irritable refinement of her own mind and the too great importance placed by her on the of a strong sensibility and the graces of a polished manner like half the rest of the world if more than half there be that are clever and good with excellent abilities and an excellent disposition was neither reasonable nor candid she expected from other people the same opinions and feelings as her own and she judged of their motives by the effect of their actions on herself thus a circumstance occurred while the sisters were together in their own room after breakfast which sunk the heart of mrs still lower in her estimation because through her own weakness it chanced t prove a source of fresh pain to herself though mrs was governed in it by an impulse of the utmost good will with a letter in her outstretched hand and countenance smiling from the persuasion sense and sensibility of bringing comfort she entered their room saying � now my dear i bring you something that i am sore will do you good heard enough in one moment her imagination placed before her a letter from fall of tenderness and of all that had passed satisfactory convincing and instantly followed by himself eagerly into the room to enforce at her feet by the eloquence of his eyes the assurance of his letter the work of one moment was destroyed by the next the handwriting of her mother never till then unwelcome was before her and in the of the disappointment which followed such an ecstasy of more than hope she felt as if till that instant she had never suffered the cruelty of mrs no language within her reach in her moments of happiest eloquence could have expressed and now she could reproach her only by the tears which streamed from her eyes with passionate violence � a reproach however so entirely lost on its object that after many expressions of pity she withdrew still referring her to the letter for comfort but the letter when she was calm enough to read it brought little comfort filled every page her mother still confident of their engagement and as warmly as ever on his constancy had only been sense and by s application to entreat from towards them both and with such tenderness towards her such affection for and such a of their future happiness in each other that she wept with agony through the whole of it all her impatience to be at home again now returned her mother was dearer to her than ever dearer through the very excess of her mistaken confidence in and she was wildly urgent to be gone unable herself to determine whether it were better for to be in london or at offered no counsel of her own except of patience till their mother s wishes could be known and 