第89章[第1頁/共5頁]

“But it is fortunate,”thought she,“that I have something to wish for.Were the whole arrangement complete,my disappointment would be certain. But here, by carrying with me one ceaseless source of regret in my sister's absence,I may reasonably hope to have all my expectations of pleasure realised.A scheme of which every part promises delight can never be successful;and general disappointment is only warded off by the defence of some little peculiar vexation.”

Elizabeth,however,had never been blind to the impropriety of her father's behaviour as a husband.She had always seen it with pain;but respecting his abilities,and grateful for his affectionate treatment of herself, she endeavoured to forget what she could not overlook, and to banish from her thoughts that continual breach of conjugal obligation and decorum which, in exposing his wife to the contempt of her own children, was so highly reprehensible. But she had never felt so strongly as now the disadvantages which must attend the children of so unsuitable a marriage,nor ever been so fully aware of the evils arising from so ill-judged a direction of talents;talents,which,rightly used,might at least have preserved the respectability of his daughters,even if incapable of enlarging the mind of his wife.