Page:Austen Sanditon and other miscellanea.djvu/115

 Rh her. She must have too masculine and bold a temper. To be so bent on Marriage, to pursue a Man merely for the sake of situation, is a sort of thing that shocks me; I cannot understand it. Poverty is a great Evil, but to a woman of Education and feeling it ought not, it cannot be the greatest. I would rather be Teacher at a school (and I can think of nothing worse) than marry a Man I did not like.’ ‘I would rather do any thing than be Teacher at a school,’ said her sister. ‘I have been at school, Emma, and know what a Life they lead; you never have. I should not like marrying a disagreeable Man any more than yourself, but I do not think there are many very disagreeable Men. I think I could like any goodhumoured Man with a comfortable Income. I suppose my Aunt brought you up to be rather refined.’ ‘Indeed I do not know. My conduct must tell you how I have been brought up. I am no judge of it myself I cannot compare my Aunt’s method with any other person’s, because I know no other.’ ‘But I can see in a great many things that you are very refined. I have observed it ever since you came home, and I am afraid it will not be for your happiness. Penelope will laugh at you very much.’ ‘That will not be for my happiness, I am sure. If my opinions are wrong, I must correct them; if they are above my situation, I must endeavour to conceal them. But I doubt whether Ridicule—Has Penelope much wit?’ ‘Yes, she has great spirits, and never cares what she says.’ ‘Margaret is more gentle, I imagine?’ ‘Yes, especially in company; she is all gentleness and mildness when anybody is by. But she is a little fretful and perverse among ourselves. Poor creature! she is possessed with the notion of Tom Musgrave’s being more seriously in love with her, than he ever was with any body else, and is always expecting him to come to the point. This is the second time within this twelvemonth that she has gone