Page:Austen Sanditon and other miscellanea.djvu/83

 Rh her Young People's benefit, had fixed on the coast of Sussex, but was undecided as to the where, wanted something Private, and wrote to ask the opinion of her friend Mrs. Darling. Miss Capper happened to be staying with Mrs. Darling when Mrs. Griffiths’s Letter arrived, and was consulted on the question; she wrote the same day to Fanny Noyce and mentioned it to her, and Fanny, all alive for us, instantly took up her pen and forwarded the circumstance to me, except as to Names, which have but lately transpired. There was but one thing for me to do. I answered Fanny’s Letter by the same Post and pressed for the recommendation of Sanditon. Fanny had feared your having no house large enough to receive such a Family. But I seem to be spinning out my story to an endless length. You see how it was all managed. I had the pleasure of hearing soon afterwards by the same simple link of connection that Sanditon had been recommended by Mrs. Darling, and that the West Indians were very much disposed to go thither. This was the state of the case when I wrote to you; but two days ago—yes, the day before yesterday—I heard again from Fanny Noyce, saying that she had heard from Miss Capper, who by a Letter from Mrs. Darling understood that Mrs. Griffiths has expressed herself in a letter to Mrs. Darling more doubtingly on the subject of Sanditon. Am I clear? I would be anything rather than not clear.’ ‘Oh! perfectly, perfectly. Well?’ ‘The reason of this hesitation, was her having no connections in the place, and no means of ascertaining that she should have good accommodations on arriving there; and she was particularly careful and scrupulous on all those matters more on account of a certain Miss Lambe, a young Lady (probably a Niece) under her care, than on her own account or her Daughters’. Miss Lambe has an immense fortune—richer than all the rest—and very delicate health. One sees clearly enough by all this,