that Mrs. Austen's continued ill-health was the reason for
the change.

Tradition says that when Jane returned home accompanied by Martha Lloyd,
the news was abruptly announced by her mother, who thus greeted them:
'Well, girls, it is all settled; we have decided to leave Steventon in
such a week, and go to Bath'; and that the shock of the intelligence was
so great to Jane that she fainted away. Unfortunately, there is no
further direct evidence to show how far Jane's feelings resembled those
she has attributed to Marianne Dashwood on leaving Norland; but we have
the negative evidence arising from the fact that none of her letters are
preserved between November 30, 1800, and January 3, 1801, although
Cassandra was at Godmersham during the whole of the intervening month.
Silence on the part of Jane to Cassandra for so long a period of absence
is unheard of: and according to the rule acted on by Cassandra,
destruction of her sister's letters was a proof of their emotional
interest. We cannot doubt, therefore, that she wrote in a strain unusual
for her more than once in that month; but as she says of Elizabeth
Bennet 'it was her business to be satisfied--and certainly her temper to
be happy'; and the next letter that we have shows that she was
determined to face a new life in a new place with cheerfulness.

Steventon: Saturday [January 3, 1801].

MY DEAR CASSANDRA, . . .--My mother looks forward
with as much certainty as you can do to our
keeping two maids; my father is the only one not
in the secret. We plan having a steady cook and a
young, giddy housemaid, with a sedate middle-aged
man, who is to undertake the double office of
husband to the former and sweetheart to the
latter.

* * * * *

There are three parts of Bath which we have
thought of as likely to have houses in
them--Westgate Buildings, Charles Street, and some
of the short streets leading from Laura Place or
Pulteney Street.

Westgate Buildings, though quite in the lower part
of the town, are not badly situated themselves.
The street is broad, and has rather a good
appearance. Charles Street, however, I think is
preferable. The buildings are new, and its
nearness to Kingsmead Fields would be a pleasant