Page:Fragment of a novel written by Jane Austen.pdf/77

 them, & who is not much above 20, I am sorry to say, is almost as great an Invalid as themselves.—He is so delicate that he can engage in no Profession.—Sidney laughs at him—but it really is no Joke—tho' Sidney often makes me laugh at them all in spite of myself.—Now, if he were here, I know he wd be offering odds that either Susan Diana or Arthur wd appear by this letter to have been at the point of death within the last month."—Having run his eye over the Letter, he shook his head & began—"No chance of seeing them at Sanditon I am sorry to say.—A very indifferent account of them indeed. Seriously, a very indifferent account.—Mary, you will be quite sorry to hear how ill they have been & are.—Miss H., if you will give me leave, I will read Diana's Letter aloud.—I like to have my friends acquainted with each other