Austen Said:

“Then pray let us turn back; they will certainly meet with an accident if we go on. Do let us turn back, Mr. Thorpe; stop and speak to my brother, and tell him how very unsafe it is.”

“Yes, ma’am, I thank you; we could not have had a nicer day.”

“You have seen Mrs. Thorpe, then?”

“Did you see anybody else of our acquaintance?”

“Did you indeed? And did they speak to you?”

“And what did she tell you of them?”

“Did she tell you what part of Gloucestershire they come from?”

“And are Mr. and Mrs. Tilney in Bath?”

“And is Mr. Tilney, my partner, the only son?”

“No,”

“he is not here; I cannot see him anywhere.”

“No, indeed I should not.”

“Indeed you do me injustice; I would not have made so improper a remark upon any account; and besides, I am sure it would never have entered my head.”

“How well your brother dances!”

“He must have thought it very odd to hear me say I was engaged the other evening, when he saw me sitting down. But I really had been engaged the whole day to Mr. Thorpe.”

“You cannot think,”

“how surprised I was to see him again. I felt so sure of his being quite gone away.”

“That never occurred to me; and of course, not seeing him anywhere, I thought he must be gone. Was not the young lady he danced with on Monday a Miss Smith?”

“I dare say she was very glad to dance. Do you think her pretty?”

“He never comes to the pump-room, I suppose?”

“I hope I shall have the pleasure of seeing you again soon,”

“Shall you be at the cotillion ball tomorrow?

“I am glad of it, for we shall all be there.”

“I wonder you should think so, for you never asked me.”

“Oh, no; they will never think of me, after such a description as that.”

“But they are such very different things!”

“To be sure not. People that marry can never part, but must go and keep house together. People that dance only stand opposite each other in a long room for half an hour.”

“Yes, to be sure, as you state it, all this sounds very well; but still they are so very different. I cannot look upon them at all in the same light, nor think the same duties belong to them.”

“No, indeed, I never thought of that.”

“Mr. Thorpe is such a very particular friend of my brother’s, that if he talks to me, I must talk to him again; but there are hardly three young men in the room besides him that I have any acquaintance with.”

“Nay, I am sure you cannot have a better; for if I do not know anybody, it is impossible for me to talk to them; and, besides, I do not want to talk to anybody.”

“Yes, quite — more so, indeed.”

“I do not think I should be tired, if I were to stay here six months.”

“Well, other people must judge for themselves, and those who go to London may think nothing of Bath. But I, who live in a small retired village in the country, can never find greater sameness in such a place as this than in my own home; for here are a variety of amusements, a variety of things to be seen and done all day long, which I can know nothing of there.”

“Yes, I am. I have always lived there, and always been very happy. But certainly there is much more sameness in a country life than in a Bath life. One day in the country is exactly like another.”

“Do I?”

“I do not believe there is much difference.”

“And so I am at home — only I do not find so much of it. I walk about here, and so I do there; but here I see a variety of people in every street, and there I can only go and call on Mrs. Allen.”

“Oh! Yes. I shall never be in want of something to talk of again to Mrs. Allen, or anybody else. I really believe I shall always be talking of Bath, when I am at home again — I do like it so very much. If I could but have Papa and Mamma, and the rest of them here, I suppose I should be too happy! James’s coming (my eldest brother) is quite delightful — and especially as it turns out that the very family we are just got so intimate with are his intimate friends already. Oh! Who can ever be tired of Bath?”

“Oh!”

“Oh!”

“How handsome a family they are!”

“I shall like it,”

“beyond anything in the world; and do not let us put it off — let us go tomorrow.”

“Remember — twelve o’clock,”

“Oh! dear, I do believe it will be wet,”

“No walk for me today,”

“but perhaps it may come to nothing, or it may hold up before twelve.”

“Oh! That will not signify; I never mind dirt.”

“It comes on faster and faster!”