Page:Jane Austen (Sarah Fanny Malden 1889).djvu/67

 "'Oh! beyond anything great! What brother on earth would do half so much for his sisters, even if really his sisters! And as it is—only half blood! But you have such a generous spirit.'

"'I would not wish to do anything mean,' he replied. 'One had rather on such occasions do too much than too little. No one at least can think I have not done enough for them: even themselves, they can hardly expect more.'

"'There is no knowing what they may expect,' said the lady, 'but we are not to think of their expectations: the question is, what you can afford to do.'

"'Certainly; and I think I may afford to give them five hundred pounds apiece. As it is, without any addition of mine, they will each have above three thousand pounds on their mother's death—a very comfortable fortune for any young woman.'

"'To be sure it is; and, indeed, it strikes me that they can want no addition at all. They will have ten thousand pounds divided amongst them. If they marry, they will be sure of doing well; and if they do not, they may all live very comfortably together on the interest of ten thousand pounds.'

"'That is very true, and therefore I do not know whether, upon the whole, it would not be more advisable to do something for their mother while she lives rather than for them—something of the annuity kind, I mean. My sisters would feel the good effects of it as well as herself. A hundred a year would make them all perfectly comfortable.'

"His wife hesitated a little, however, in giving her consent to this plan.

"'To be sure,' said she, 'it is better than parting with fifteen hundred pounds at once. But then, if