very capital; I could with difficulty keep pace
with her, yet would not flinch for the world. On
plain ground I was quite her equal. And so we
posted away under a fine hot sun, _she_ without
any parasol or any shade to her hat, stopping for
nothing and crossing the churchyard at Weston with
as much expedition as if we were afraid of being
buried alive. After seeing what she is equal to, I
cannot help feeling a regard for her. As to
agreeableness, she is much like other people.

* * * * *

I went with my mother to help look at some houses
in New King Street, towards which she felt some
kind of inclination, but their size has now
satisfied her. They were smaller than I expected
to find them; one in particular out of the two was
quite monstrously little; the best of the
sitting-rooms not so large as the little parlour
at Steventon, and the second room in every floor
about capacious enough to admit a very small
single bed.

* * * * *

You will be sorry to hear that Marianne Mapleton's
disorder has ended fatally. She was believed out
of danger on Sunday, but a sudden relapse carried
her off the next day. So affectionate a family
must suffer severely; and many a girl on early
death has been praised into an angel, I believe,
on slighter pretensions to beauty, sense, and
merit, than Marianne.

Paragon: Tuesday [May 26, 1801].[125]

. . . . . . . . .

The _Endymion_ came into Portsmouth on Sunday and
I have sent Charles a short letter by this day's
post. My adventures since I wrote you three days
ago have been such as the time would easily
contain. I walked yesterday morning with Mrs.
Chamberlayne to Lyncombe and Widcombe, and in the
evening I drank tea with the Holders. Mrs.
Chamberlayne's pace was not quite so magnificent
on this second trial as on the first: it was
nothing more than I could keep up with, without
effort, and for many many yards together on a
raised narrow footpath I led the way. Th