or the girls to be together; and generally congratulated her young
friends every night, on having escaped the company of a stupid old
woman so long. She joined them sometimes at Sir John's, sometimes at
her own house; but wherever it was, she always came in excellent
spirits, full of delight and importance, attributing Charlotte's well
doing to her own care, and ready to give so exact, so minute a detail
of her situation, as only Miss Steele had curiosity enough to desire.
One thing _did_ disturb her; and of that she made her daily complaint.
Mr. Palmer maintained the common, but unfatherly opinion among his
sex, of all infants being alike; and though she could plainly
perceive, at different times, the most striking resemblance between
this baby and every one of his relations on both sides, there was no
convincing his father of it; no persuading him to believe that it was
not exactly like every other baby of the same age; nor could he even
be brought to acknowledge the simple proposition of its being the
finest child in the world.

I come now to the relation of a misfortune, which about this time
befell Mrs. John Dashwood. It so happened that while her two sisters
with Mrs. Jennings were first calling on her in Harley Street, another
of her acquaintance had dropt in--a circumstance in itself not
apparently likely to produce evil to her. But while the imaginations
of other people will carry them away to form wrong judgments of our
conduct, and to decide on it by slight appearances, one's happiness
must in some measure be always at the mercy of chance. In the present
instance, this last-arrived lady allowed her fancy to so far outrun
truth and probability, that on merely hearing the name of the Miss
Dashwoods, and understanding them to be Mr. Dashwood's sisters, she
immediately concluded them to be staying in Harley Street; and this
misconstruction produced within a day or two afterwards, cards of
invitation for them as well as for their brother and sister, to a
small musical party at her house. The consequence of which was, that
Mrs. John Dashwood was obliged to submit not only to the exceedingly
great inconvenience of sending her carriage for the Miss Dashwoods,
but, what was still worse, must be subject to all the unpleasantness
of appearing to treat them with attention: and who could tell that
they might not expect to go out with her a second time? The power of
disappointing them, it was true, must always be her's. Bu