Friendship and Folly: The Merriweather Chronicles Book I Read Online Free PDF Page A

without attempting some defense. In the slight pause between the ending of one grievance and the beginning of another, she ventured her assurance, that had they any intention of introducing Julia into Society, they would readily have engaged to introduce her (Ann) as well. But, said she, one could scarcely expect them to do for a neighbor’s daughter, what they had no desire to do for their own. She spoke without any expectation of being attended to, and was exceedingly surprised when she was.
    Attendance, however, is not agreement; and though Mrs. Northcott heard Ann’s words, she heard them after her own fashion. Ann believed herself to be arguing that her friends could not be censured for failing to advance her in a society of which they themselves had no opinion; Mrs. Northcott derived, that they must be made to do so. It struck her at once, that Justice demanded it: demanded, that those guilty of diluting the punch, should be made to see to its disposal. True, the juxtaposition of Ann and Julia must inevitably dim the former’s prospects, but this disadvantage was greatly countermanded by the possibility that one of Miss Parry’s rejected suitors might very well turn to the more attainable Miss Northcott, as solace for his granulated hopes.
    If, at this point, anyone is visited by the suspicion, that in reasoning so, Mrs. Northcott was influenced by any sordid pecuniary considerations, then I have failed to properly delineate her character. Although she had for some years had no thought of presenting Ann herself, it was not because she begrudged the expense. Indeed, she would gladly have done so, had there been the slightest probability of the girl justifying the expenditure. Two circumstances, however, bespoke the futility of it, both of them to be found in Ann’s person. It was not that Ann was plain--she was not, compared to anyone other than a Parry--but pleasantly undistinguished features, unlike beauty, must needs be accompanied by a desire to please; and spend she never so wisely, no fashion or furbelow purchased by Mrs. Northcott could force success on one determined to resist it. What incentive had Ann to make herself agreeable to a strange gentleman, however eligible, when his proposals could only result in that which she dreaded above all things, her removal from the vicinity of Merriweather?
    But Ann’s reluctance, while irksome, was by no means decisive, and you may be sure that had there not existed a second and more potent objection to the scheme, a continual application of reproaches would eventually have worn away such foolishness. The second objection, however, was not to be overcome by such tactics. One could impose on a will, and weaken a resolution, but a distorted limb could not be gainsaid. Miss Northcott, in the guise of either tolerably pretty crippled daughter, or whey-faced crippled friend, could not be anything but a painful embarrassment to those who accompanied her. Mrs. Northcott’s pride, with that tenderness for its own comfort at which pride ever excels, had from the beginning warned her of how it must be for anyone seen in her daughter’s company. The trip to Bath, fixed upon in an hour when pride’s credit was low, had cruelly demonstrated the accuracy of its warnings, and restored it to its former place of honor.
    However, as long as Mrs. Northcott’s pride remained inviolate, as long as she did not herself have to witness the inevitable comparisons, to receive the looks, either pitying or disdainful, there could be no objection to Ann’s Presentation; that Ann would have to do so did not bother Mrs. Northcott at all--almost the thought pleased her. Not that she wished her daughter ill, no indeed! Did she not plan and maneuver for the girl? Did she not diligently seek out the most fashionable patterns, the most innovative hairstyles for the improvement of Ann--and as regularly despair? Had she not been sincerely gratified when the news reached them of William Merrion’s