as witty and seductive, as she could possibly manage to be;
for here were all the ladies to outshine, and all the gentlemen
to charm,--and Mr. Lawrence, especially, to capture and
subdue. Her little arts to effect his subjugation were too
subtle and impalpable to attract my observation; but I
thought there was a certain refined affectation of superiority,
and an ungenial self-consciousness about her, that negatived
all her advantages; and after she was gone, Rose interpreted
to me her various looks, words, and actions with a mingled
acuteness and asperity that made me wonder, equally, at the
lady's artifice and my sister's penetration, and ask myself if
she too had an eye to the squire--but never mind, Halford;
she had not.

Richard Wilson, Jane's younger brother, sat in a corner,
apparently good-tempered, but silent and shy, desirous to
escape observation, but willing enough to listen and observe:
and, although somewhat out of his element, he would have
been happy enough in his own quiet way, if my mother could
only have let him alone; but in her mistaken kindness, she
would keep persecuting him with her attentions--pressing
upon him all manner of viands, under the notion that he
was too bashful to help himself, and obliging him to shout
across the room his monosyllabic replies to the numerous
questions and observations by which she vainly attempted to
draw him into conversation.

Rose informed me that he never would have favoured us
with his company but for the importunities of his sister Jane,
who was most anxious to show Mr. Lawrence that she had
at least one brother more gentlemanly and refined than
Robert. That worthy individual she had been equally
solicitous to keep away; but he affirmed that he saw no
reason why he should not enjoy a crack with Markham and
the old lady (my mother was not old, really), and bonny
Miss Rose and the parson, as well as the best;--and he was
in the right of it too. So he talked common-place with my
mother and Rose, and discussed parish affairs with the vicar,
farming matters with me, and politics with us both.

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