Page:Austen - Mansfield Park, vol. II, 1814.djvu/214

 hope, I am sure she is not serious—but I would rather not hear. She never has danced with a clergyman she says, and she never will. For my own sake, I could wish there had been no ball just at—I mean not this very week, this very day—to-morrow I leave home."

Fanny struggled for speech and said, "I am very sorry that any thing has occurred to distress you. This ought to be a day of pleasure. My uncle meant it so."

"Oh! yes, yes, and it will be a day of pleasure. It will all end right. I am only vexed for a moment. In fact, it is not that I consider the ball as ill-timed;—what does it signify? But Fanny,"—stopping her by taking her hand, and speaking low and seriously, "you know what all this means. You see how it is; and could tell me, perhaps better than I could tell you, how and why I am vexed. Let me talk to you a little. You are a kind, kind listener. I have been pained