CHAPTER 11.
It would not do.—Not all that the whole Parkerracecould say among themselves, cdproduce a happier catastrophe thanthat the Familyfrom Surry & the Family from Camberwellwereone & the same.—The rich Westindians, & the young Ladies Seminary had all entered Sanditon in those two Hack chaises. The MrsG. who in her friend MrsDarling’s hands, had wavered as to coming & been unequal to the Journey, was the very same MrsG. whose plans were at the sameperiod(underanother representation) perfectly decided, & who was without fears or difficulties.—All that had theappearance of Incongruity in the reports of the two, might very fairly be placed to the account of the Vanity, the Ignorance, or theblundersof the manyengaged in the cause by the vigilance & caution of Miss DianaP—.Herintimate friends must be officious like herself, & the subject had supplied Letters & Extracts & Messages enough tomake everything appear what it was not. Miss D. probably felt a little awkward on being first obliged to admit her mistake. A long Journey from Hampshire taken for nothing—a Brother disappointed—anexpensive Houseon her hands for a week, must have been some of her immediate reflections—& much worse than all the rest, must have been the sort of sensation of being less clear-sighted & infallible than she hadbeleived herself.—No part of it however seemedto trouble her long. There were so many to share in the shame & the blame, that probably when she had divided out their proper portions to MrsDarling, Miss Capper, Fanny Noyce, MrsC. Dupuis &MrsC. D’sNeighbour, there might be amere trifleof reproachremaining for herself.—At any rate, she was seenall the followingmorngwalking about after Lodgings with MrsG.— as alert as ever.—MrsG. was a very well-behaved, genteel kind of Woman, who supported herself byreceiving suchgreat girls & young Ladies,aswanted either Masters for finishing their Education, or a home for beginning their Displays.—She had several more under her care than the three who were now come to Sanditon, but the others all happened to be absent.—Of these three, & indeed of all, Miss Lambe wasbeyond comparison the most important & precious, as she paid in proportion to her fortune.—She was about 17, half Mulatto, chilly & tender, had a maid of her own, was to have the best room in the Lodgings, & was always of the first consequence in every plan of MrsG.—The other Girls, two Miss Beauforts were just such young Ladies as may be met with, in at least one family out of three, throughout the Kingdom; they had tolerable complexions, shewey figures, an upright decided carriage & an assured Look;—they were very accomplished & very Ignorant, their time being divided betweensuch pursuitsas might attractadmiration, & those Labours & Expedients of dexterous Ingenuity, by which they could dress in a stile much beyond what theyoughtto have afforded; they were some of the firstin every change of fashion—& the object of all, was to captivate some Man of much better fortune than their own.—MrsG. had preferred a small, retired place, like Sanditon, on Miss Lambe’s account—and the Miss Bs—, though naturally preferring any thing toSmallness & Retirement,yet havingin the course of the Springbeen involved inthe inevitableexpence of six newDresses eachfor a three days visit, were constrained to be satisfied with Sanditon also, till their circumstances were retreived. There, with the hire of a Harp for one, & the purchase of some Drawing paper for the other & all the finery they could already command, they meant to be very economical, very elegant & verysecluded; with the hope on Miss Beaufort’s side, of praise &celebrity fromall who walked within the sound ofher Instrument, & on Miss Letitia’s, of curiosity & 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 MrsG. to Miss Diana Parker, secured them immediately an acquaintance with the Trafalgar House-family, & with the Denhams;—and the Miss Beauforts were soon satisfied with “the Circle in which they movedin Sanditon” to use a proper phrase, for every body must now “move in a Circle”,—to the prevalenceof which rototory Motion, is perhaps to be attributed the Giddiness & false steps of many.—Lady Denham had other motives for calling on MrsG. besides attention to the Parkers.—In Miss Lambe, here was the very young Lady, sickly & rich, whom she hadbeen asking for; & shemade the acquaintance for Sir Edward’s sake, & the sake of her Milch asses. How it might answer with regard to the Baronet, remained to be proved, but as to the Animals, shesoon foundthat all her calculations of Profit wdbe vain. MrsG. would not allow Miss L. to have the smallest symptom of a Decline, orany complaintwhich Asses milk cdpossibly releive. “Miss L. was under the constant care of an experiencedPhysician;—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, MrsG. did never deviate from the strict Medecinal page.—The corner house of the Terrace was the one in which Miss D. P. had the pleasure of settling her new friends, & considering that it commanded in front the favourite Lounge of all the Visitorsat Sanditon, & on one side, whatever might be going on at the Hotel, there cdnot have been a more favourable spot for the seclusions of the Miss Beauforts. Andaccordingly, long before they had suited themselves with an Instrument, orwith Drawing paper, they had, by the frequency of their appearance at the low Windows upstairs, in order to close the blinds, or open the Blinds, to arrange a flower pot on the Balcony, or look at nothing through a Telescope, attracted manyan eye upwards, & made many a Gazer gaze again.—A little Novelty has a great effect in so small a place; the Miss Beauforts, who wdhave been nothing at Brighton, could not move here withoutnotice;—and even MrArthur Parker, though littledisposedfor supernumerary exertion, alwaysquittedthe Terrace, in hiswaytohisBrothersby this corner House, for the sake of a glimpse of the Miss Bs—, though it was ½ a qrof a mileround about, & added two steps to the ascent of the Hill.