Page:Austen Sanditon and other miscellanea.djvu/99

 Rh and Retirement, yet having in the course of the Spring been involved in the inevitable expense of six new Dresses each for a three days’ visit, were constrained to be satisfied with Sanditon also, till their circumstances were retrieved. There, with the hire of a Harp for one, and the purchase of some Drawing paper for the other and all the finery they could already command, they meant to be very economical, very elegant and very secluded; with the hope on Miss Beaufort’s side, of praise and celebrity from all who walked within the sound of her Instrument, and on Miss Letitia’s, of curiosity and rapture in all who came near her while she sketched, and to Both, the consolation of meaning to be the most stylish Girls in the Place. The particular introduction of Mrs. Griffiths to Miss Diana Parker, secured them immediately an acquaintance with the Trafalgar House family, and with the Denhams; and the Miss Beauforts were soon satisfied with ‘the Circle in which they moved in Sanditon,’ to use a proper phrase, for every body must now ‘move in a Circle,’ to the prevalence of which rotatory Motion, is perhaps to be attributed the Giddiness and false steps of many. Lady Denham had other motives for calling on Mrs. Griffiths besides attention to the Parkers. In Miss Lambe, here was the very young Lady, sickly and rich, whom she had been asking for; and she made the acquaintance for Sir Edward's sake, and the sake of her Milch asses. How it might answer with regard to the Baronet, remained to be proved, but as to the Animals, she soon found that all her calculations of Profit would be vain. Mrs. Griffiths would not allow Miss Lambe to have the smallest symptom of a Decline, or any complaint which Asses' milk could possibly relieve. ‘Miss Lambe was under the constant care of an experienced Physician; and his Prescriptions must be their rule,’ and except in favour of some Tonic Pills, which a Cousin of her own had a Property in, Mrs. Griffiths did