CHAPTER 10.
It was not a week,sinceMiss Diana Parker had been told by her feelings, that the Sea Air wdprobably in her present state, be the death of her, and now she was at Sanditon, intending to make some Stay, & without appearing to have the slightest recollection of having written or felt any such thing.—It was impossible for Charlotte not to suspect a good deal of fancy in such an extraordinary state of health.—Disorders & Recoveries so very much out of the common way, seemed more like the amusement of eager Minds in want of employment than of actual afflictions & releif. The Parkers, were nodoubt a family of Imagination & quick feelings—and while the eldest Brother found vent for his superfluity ofsensationas a Projector, the Sisters were perhaps driven to dissipate theirs in the invention of oddcomplaints.—Thewholeof their mental vivacity was evidently not so employed; Part was laid out ina Zeal forbeing useful.—It should seem that they must either be very busy for the Goodof others, or else extremely ill themselves. Some natural delicacy of Constitution in fact, with an unfortunate turn for Medecine, especially quack Medecine, had given theman earlytendencyatvarious times, to various Disorders;—the rest oftheir sufferingswas from Fancy, the love of Distinction & the love of the Wonderful.—They hadCharitablehearts & many amiable feelings—buta spirit of restless activity, & the gloryof doing more than anybody else, had their share in every exertion ofBenevolence—and there was Vanity in all they did, as well as in all they endured.—Mr& MrsP. spent a great part of the Evengat the Hotel; but Charlotte had only two or three veiws of Miss Diana posting over the Down after a House for this Lady whom she had never seen, &who had neveremployed her. She was not made acquainted with the others till the following day, when, being removed into Lodgings & all the party continuing quite well, their Brother & Sister & herself were entreated to drink tea with them.—They were in one of the Terrace Houses—&she found themarranged for the Evengin a small neat Drawing room, with a beautiful veiw of the Sea if they had chosen it,—but thoughit had beena very fair English Summer-day,—notonly was there no open window, but the Sopha &the Table, & the Establishment in general was all at the other end of the room by a brisk fire.—MissP—whom, remembering the three Teeth drawn in one day, Charlotte approached witha peculiar degreeof respectful Compassion, was not very unlike her Sister in person or manner—tho’ more thin & worn by Illness & Medecine, more relaxed in air, & more subdued in voice. She talked however, the whole Evening as incessantly as Diana—&exceptingthat she sat with salts in her hand, took Drops two or three times from one, out ofthe severalPhials alreadyat homeon the Mantlepeice,—& made a great many odd faces & contortions, Charlotte could perceive nosymptomsof illness which she, in the boldness of her own good health, wdnot have undertaken tocure, by putting out the fire, opening the Window, & disposing of the Drops &the saltsby means of one or the other. She had hadconsiderablecuriosity to see MrArthur Parker; & havingfancied hima very puny, delicate-looking young Man, the smallest very materially of not a robust Family, was astonished to find him quite as tall as his Brother & a great deal Stouter—Broad made & Lusty—andwithno other look of an Invalide, than a sodden complexion.—Diana was evidently the cheif of the family; principal Mover & Actor;—she had been on her Feet the whole Morning, on MrsG.’s business or their own, & was still the most alert of the three.—Susan had only superintended their final removal from the Hotel, bringing two heavy Boxes herself, & Arthur had found the air so cold that he hadmerely walked from one House to the other as nimbly as he could,—& boastedmuchof sitting by the fire till he had cooked up a very good one.—Diana, whose exercise had been too domestic to admit of calculation, but who, by her own account, had not once sat downduringthe space of seven hours, confessed herself a little tired. She had been too successful however for much fatigue; for not only had she by walking & talking down a thousand difficulties at last secured a proper House at 8gprweek for MrsG.—; she hadalso openedso many Treaties with Cooks, Housemaids, Washerwomen & Bathing Women, that MrsG. would have little more to do on her arrival, than to wave her hand & collect them around her for choice.—Her concluding effort in the cause, had been a few polite lines of Informationto MrsG. herself—time not allowing for the circuitous train of intelligence which hadbeen hithertokept up,—and she was now regaling in the delight ofopeningthe first Trenches of an acquaintance with such a powerful discharge of unexpected Obligation. Mr& MrsP.— & Charlotte had seen two Post chaises crossing the Down to the Hotel as they were setting off,—a joyful sight—& full of speculation.—The Miss Ps— & Arthur had alsoseen something;—they coulddistinguish from their windowthat therewasan arrival at the Hotel, but notits amount. Their Visitors answered for two Hack-Chaises.—Could it be the Camberwell Seminary?—No—No.—Had there been a 3dcarriage, perhaps it might; but it was very generally agreed that two Hack chaises could never contain a Seminary.—MrP. was confident ofanother new Family.—When they were all finally seated, aftersome removals to lookat the Sea & the Hotel, Charlotte’s place was by Arthur, who was sittingnextto the Fire with a degree of Enjoyment which gave a good deal of merit to hiscivility in wishing her to take hisChair.—There was nothing dubious in her manner of declining it, and he sat down again withmuchsatisfaction. She drew back her Chair to have all the advantage ofhis Person asa screen, & was very thankful for every inch of Back & Shoulders beyond her pre-conceived idea.Arthur was heavy in Eye as well as figure, but by no meansindisposed to talk;—and while the other 4 werecheiflyengaged together,he evidentlyfelt it no penance to havea fine young Womannext to him, requiring in common Politeness some attention—as hisBr, who feltthedecidedwant of some motive for action,somePowerful objectof animation forhim, observed withconsiderablepleasure.—Such was the influence of Youth & Bloom that hebegan even to makea sort of apology for having a Fire. “We shdnot have one at home, said he, but the Sea air is always damp. I am not afraid of any thing so much as Damp.—” “I am so fortunate, said C. as never to know whether the air is damp or dry. It has always some property that is wholesome& invigorating tome.—” “Ilike the Air too, aswell as any bodycan; replied Arthur, I am very fond of standing at an open Window when there is no Wind—but unluckily a Damp air does not likeme.—It gives me the Rheumatism.—You are not rheumatic I suppose?—” “Not at all.” “That’s a great blessing.—Butperhaps you are nervous.” “No—I beleive not. I have no idea that I am.”—“Iam very nervous.—To say the truthNerves are the worst part of my Complaintsinmyopinion.—My Sisters think me Bilious, but I doubt it.—” “You are quite in the right, to doubt it as long as you possibly can, I am sure.—” “If I were Bilious, he continued, you know Wine wddisagree with me, but it always does me good.—The more Wine I drink (in Moderation) the better I am.—I am always best of an Eveng.—If you had seen me today before Dinner, you wdhavethoughtme a very poor Creature.—” Charlotte could beleive it—. She kept her countenance however, & said—“As far as I can understand what nervous complaints are, I have a great idea of the efficacy of air & exercise for them:—daily, regular Exercise;—and Ishould recommend rather more of it toyouthan I suspect you are in the habit of taking.”—“Oh! I am very fond of exercise myself—he replied—& mean towalka great deal while I am here, if the Weather is temperate. I shall be out every morning before breakfast—& take several turns upon the Terrace, & you will often see me at Trafalgar House.”—“But you do not call a walk to Traf: H. much exercise?—” “Not,as tomere distance, butthe Hill is so steep!—Walking up that Hill, in the middle of the day, would throw me into such a Perspiration!—You would see me all in a Bath by the time I got there!—I am very subject toPerspiration, and there cannot be a surer sign of Nervousness.—” They were now advancing so deep in Physics, that Charlotteveiwedthe entrance of the Servant with theTea things, as a very fortunate Interruption.—It produced a great & immediate change. The young Man’s attentions were instantly lost. He took his ownCocoafrom the Tray,—which seemed provided with almost as many Teapots &c as there were persons in company, Miss P. drinking one sort of Herb-Tea & Miss Diana another, & turning completely to the Fire, sat coddling & cooking it to his own satisfaction & toasting some Slices of Bread,brought upready-prepared in the Toast rack—and till it was all done, she heard nothing of his voice butthe murmuring of a few broken sentences of self-approbation & success.—When his Toils were over however, he moved back his Chairinto as gallant a Line as ever, & proved that he had not been working only for himself, by his earnest invitation to her to takeboth Cocoa & Toast.—She was already helped to Tea—which surprised him—so totally self-engrossed had he been.—“I thought I should have been in time, said he, but cocoa takes a great deal of Boiling.”—“I am much obliged to you, replied Charlotte—but IpreferTea.” “Then I will help myself, said he.—A largeDish of ratherweak Cocoa every evening, agrees with me better than any thing.”—It struck her however, as he poured out this rather weak Cocoa, that it came forth in avery fine, dark coloured stream—and at the same moment, his Sisters both crying out—“Oh! Arthur, you get your Cocoa stronger & stronger every Eveng”—, with Arthur’s somewhat conscious reply of “Tisrather stronger than it should be tonight”—convinced her that Arthur wasby no meansso fond of being starved as they coulddesire, or as he felt proper himself.—He wascertainlyvery happy to turn the conversation on dry Toast, & hear no moreof his sisters.—“I hope you will eat some of this Toast, said he, I reckon myself a very good Toaster; I never burn my Toasts—I never put them too near the Fire at first—& yet, you see, there is not a Corner but what is well browned.—I hope you like dry Toast.”—“With a reasonable quantity of Butter spread over it, very much—said Charlotte—but not otherwise.—” “No more doI—saidheexceedingly pleased—We think quite alikethere.—So far from dry Toast being wholesome,Ithink ita very bad thingfor the Stomach. Without a little butter to soften it, it hurts the Coats of the Stomach. I am sure it does.—I will have the pleasure of spreading some for you directly—&afterwards I will spread some for myself.—Very bad indeed for the Coats of the Stomach—but there is no convincingsomepeople.—It irritates & acts like anutmeg grater.—” He could not get the command of theButterhowever, without a struggle; His Sistersaccusinghim of eating a great deal too much, &declaringhe was not to betrusted;—andhemaintainingthat he only eat enough to secure the Coats of his Stomach;—& besides, he only wanted it now for Miss Heywood.—Such a plea must prevail, he got the butter & spread away for her with an accuracy of Judgement which at least delighted himself; but whenher Toastwas done, & he took hisownin hand, Charlotte cdhardly containherselfas she saw him watching his sisters, while he scrupulouslyscraped off almostas much butter as he puton, & then seize an odd moment for adding a great dab just before it went into his Mouth.—Certainly, MrArthur P.’s enjoyments in Invalidism were very different from his sisters—by no means so spiritualized.—A good deal ofEarthy Drosshung about him.Charlotte could not but suspect him of adoptingthat line of Life,principallyfor the indulgence of an indolent Temper—& to be determined on having no Disorders but such as called for warm rooms & good Nourishment.—In one particular however, she soon found that he had caught something fromthem.—“What! said he—Do you venture upon two dishes of strong Green Tea in one Eveng?—What Nerves you must have!—How I envy you.—Now, ifIwere to swallow only one such dish—what do you think it’s effect would be upon me?—” “Keepyou awake perhaps all night”—replied Charlotte, meaning to overthrow his attempts at Surprise, by the Grandeur of her own Conceptions.—“Oh! if that were all!—he exclaimed.—No—itacts on me like Poison andwdentirely take away the use of my right side, before I had swallowed it 5 minutes.—Itsounds almost incredible—but it has happened to meso often that I cannot doubt it.—The use of my right Side is entirely taken away for several hours!” “It sounds rather odd to be sure—answered Charlotte coolly—but I dare say it would be proved to be the simplest thing in the World, by those who have studied right sides & Green Tea scientifically & thoroughly understand all the possibilities of their action on each other.”—Soonafter Tea, a Letter was brought to Miss D.P—from the Hotel.—“FromMrsCharles Dupuis—said she.—some private hand.”—And having read a few lines, exclaimed aloud “Well, this is very extraordinary! very extraordinary indeed!—That both should have the same name.—Two MrsGriffiths!—This is a Letter of recommendation & introduction to me, of the Lady from Camberwell—&hername happens to be Griffiths too.—” A few lines more however,and the colour rushedinto her Cheeks, & withmuchPerturbation she added—“The oddest thing that ever was!—a Miss Lambe too!—a young Westindian of large Fortune.—But itcannotbe the same.—Impossible that it should be the same.”—She read the Letter aloud for comfort.—It was merely to “introduce the Bearer, MrsG.— from Camberwell, & the three young Ladiesunder her care, to Miss D. P.’s notice.—MrsG.— being a stranger at Sanditon, was anxious for a respectable Introduction—& MrsC. Dupuis therefore, at the instance of the intermediate friend, provided her with this Letter, knowing that she cdnot do her dear Diana a greater kindness than by giving her the means of being useful.—MrsG.’s cheif solicitude wdbe for the accomodation & comfort of one of the young Ladies under her care, a Miss Lambe, a young W. Indian of large Fortune, in delicate health.”—“It was very strange!—very remarkable!—very extraordinary” but they were all agreed indeterm[in]ingit to beimpossiblethat there should not be twoFamilies; such a totally distinct set of people as were concerned in the reports ofeachmade that matter quite certain. Theremustbe two Families.—Impossible to be otherwise. “Impossible”& “Impossible”, was repeated over & over again with great fervour.—An accidental resemblance of Names & circumstances, however striking at first, involved nothing really incredible—and so it was settled.—Miss Diana herself derived an immediateadvantageto counterbalance her Perplexity. She must put her shawl over her shoulders, & be running about again. Tired as she was, she must instantly repair to the Hotel, to investigate the truth & offer herservices.—