Conclusion

by Jane Austen

　　This correspondence, by a meeting between some of the parties, and aseparation between the others, could not, to the great detriment of thePost Office revenue, be continued any longer. Very little assistance to theState could be derived from the epistolary intercourse of Mrs. Vernon andher niece; for the former soon perceived, by the style of Frederica'sletters, that they were written under her mother's inspection! andtherefore, deferring all particular enquiry till she could make itpersonally in London, ceased writing minutely or often. Having learntenough, in the meanwhile, from her open-hearted brother, of what had passedbetween him and Lady Susan to sink the latter lower than ever in heropinion, she was proportionably more anxious to get Frederica removed fromsuch a mother, and placed under her own care; and, though with little hopeof success, was resolved to leave nothing unattempted that might offer achance of obtaining her sister-in-law's consent to it. Her anxiety on thesubject made her press for an early visit to London; and Mr. Vernon, who,as it must already have appeared, lived only to do whatever he was desired,soon found some accommodating business to call him thither. With a heartfull of the matter, Mrs. Vernon waited on Lady Susan shortly after herarrival in town, and was met with such an easy and cheerful affection, asmade her almost turn from her with horror. No remembrance of Reginald, noconsciousness of guilt, gave one look of embarrassment; she was inexcellent spirits, and seemed eager to show at once by ever possibleattention to her brother and sister her sense of their kindness, and herpleasure in their society. Frederica was no more altered than Lady Susan;the same restrained manners, the same timid look in the presence of hermother as heretofore, assured her aunt of her situation beinguncomfortable, and confirmed her in the plan of altering it. No unkindness,however, on the part of Lady Susan appeared. Persecution on the subject ofSir James was entirely at an end; his name merely mentioned to say that hewas not in London; and indeed, in all her conversation, she was solicitousonly for the welfare and improvement of her daughter, acknowledging, interms of grateful delight, that Frederica was now growing every day moreand more what a parent could desire. Mrs. Vernon, surprized andincredulous, knew not what to suspect, and, without any change in her ownviews, only feared greater difficulty in accomplishing them. The first hopeof anything better was derived from Lady Susan's asking her whether shethought Frederica looked quite as well as she had done at Churchhill, asshe must confess herself to have sometimes an anxious doubt of London'sperfectly agreeing with her. Mrs. Vernon, encouraging the doubt, directlyproposed her niece's returning with them into the country. Lady Susan wasunable to express her sense of such kindness, yet knew not, from a varietyof reasons, how to part with her daughter; and as, though her own planswere not yet wholly fixed, she trusted it would ere long be in her power totake Frederica into the country herself, concluded by declining entirely toprofit by such unexampled attention. Mrs. Vernon persevered, however, inthe offer of it, and though Lady Susan continued to resist, her resistancein the course of a few days seemed somewhat less formidable. The luckyalarm of an influenza decided what might not have been decided quite sosoon. Lady Susan's maternal fears were then too much awakened for her tothink of anything but Frederica's removal from the risk of infection; aboveall disorders in the world she most dreaded the influenza for herdaughter's constitution!Frederica returned to Churchhill with her uncle and aunt; and threeweeks afterwards, Lady Susan announced her being married to Sir JamesMartin. Mrs. Vernon was then convinced of what she had only suspectedbefore, that she might have spared herself all the trouble of urging aremoval which Lady Susan had doubtless resolved on from the first.Frederica's visit was nominally for six weeks, but her mother, thoughinviting her to return in one or two affectionate letters, was very readyto oblige the whole party by consenting to a prolongation of her stay, andin the course of two months ceased to write of her absence, and in thecourse of two or more to write to her at all. Frederica was therefore fixedin the family of her uncle and aunt till such time as Reginald De Courcycould be talked, flattered, and finessed into an affection for her which,allowing leisure for the conquest of his attachment to her mother, for hisabjuring all future attachments, and detesting the sex, might be reasonablylooked for in the course of a twelvemonth. Three months might have done itin general, but Reginald's feelings were no less lasting than lively.Whether Lady Susan was or was not happy in her second choice, I do not seehow it can ever be ascertained; for who would take her assurance of it oneither side of the question? The world must judge from probabilities ; shehad nothing against her but her husband, and her conscience. Sir James mayseem to have drawn a harder lot than mere folly merited; I leave him,therefore, to all the pity that anybody can give him. For myself, I confessthat I can pity only Miss Mainwaring; who, coming to town, and puttingherself to an expense in clothes which impoverished her for two years, onpurpose to secure him, was defrauded of her due by a woman ten years olderthan herself.