the Fowles at Elkstone. See p.
373.

[60] It was far from being his wish that _Lady Susan_ should form the
title of a separate volume. This work, and _The Watsons_, were to be
printed as an appendix at the end of the _Memoir_. By some mistake,
however, when the second edition appeared, the whole book bore the title
of _Lady Susan_ on its outside cover.

[61] How little she expected them to be published may be gathered from a
sentence written by her niece Anna, at the time of the publication of
the _Memoir_: 'I can fancy what the indignation of Aunt Cassandra would
have been at the mere idea of its [the correspondence] being read and
commented upon by any of us nephews and nieces, little or great.'

[62] _Essays and Studies by Members of the English Association_, vol.
ii. p. 10.

CHAPTER VI

ROMANCE

1795-1802

Miss Mitford, in a paragraph showing some hostility to Jane Austen,
tells us that her own mother spent her maiden life in the neighbourhood
of the Austens and knew Jane as 'the prettiest, silliest, most affected,
husband-hunting butterfly she ever remembers.' It is perhaps a
sufficient answer to this attack if we remark that when Mrs. Mitford
married and left her home Jane was barely ten years old, and that at a
date two years later she was accused by a cousin of being 'prim.' It is
probable that on growing up she, like other girls, enjoyed admiration,
and it is certain that she attracted a good deal of it; but she says so
much to her elder sister and mentor about one particular flirtation that
we may be sure that it was neither a serious nor a frequent occupation
with her.

In a letter[63] written from Steventon, November 17, 1798, she mentions
a visit from her friend Mrs. Lefroy, and adds that she had enough
private conversation with her to hear all that was interesting,--

which you will easily credit when I tell you that
of her nephew she said nothing at all, and of her
friend very little. She did not once mention the
name of the former to _me_, and I was too proud to
make any enquiries; but on my father's afterwards
asking where he was, I learnt that he was gone
back to London in his way to Ireland, where he is
called to the Bar and means to practise.

She showed me a letter which she had received from
her friend a few weeks ago (in answer to one
written by her to recommend a ne