Capítulo 1: The Uninvited Guest
Amanda Burton, beautiful, intelligent, endowed with a happy nature, having a large income, seemed to gather on her head the best gifts of existence; she was about to reach her twenty-first year without even slight suffering having touched her.
The youngest daughter of a very affectionate and indulgent father, she had found herself early, following the marriage of her elder sister, invested with the role of mistress of the house. From a very young age, she had lost her mother and maintained of her only a vague memory of distant caresses; Mrs. Burton's place was taken by a loving tutor who had surrounded the child with almost maternal affection.
Miss Taylor had been sixteen years in Mr. Burton's household, less as a teacher than as a friend; very attached to the two young girls, she particularly cherished Amanda. Even before Miss Taylor had ceased to hold the formal role of tutor, the gentleness of her character made it difficult for her to inspire any constraint; this shadow of authority had quickly vanished and the two women had long lived on an equal footing. While having great regard for Miss Taylor's judgment, Amanda relied exclusively on hers! The only pitfalls of the girl's situation were precisely the absence of any influence and restraint, and a predisposition to have excessive self-confidence. However, for now, she was unaware of the disadvantages that threatened to tarnish her happiness one day.
The grief came in a rather benign form: Miss Taylor was married. For the first time, on the day of her beloved friend's wedding Amanda was assailed by sad thoughts of some duration. The ceremony over and the guests gone, she and her father were left alone, without the prospect of a third party to brighten the long evening. Mr. Burton dozed off after dinner, as usual, and Amanda could see the extent of his isolation. She recalled those sixteen years of untiring affection: she thought tenderly of the one who had directed his games and his studies, bringing as much ardor to amuse him as to instruct him, and who had cared for him with devotion. absolute during the various illnesses of childhood. For this she had owed Miss Taylor a great debt of gratitude; but Amanda retained an even sweeter memory of the period of perfect confidence which had succeeded.
She wondered how she would handle this change? Despite all her personal advantages and situation, she was to find herself intellectually isolated; her father indeed could not follow her into serious or playful conversation; the great disproportion of their ages (Mr. Burton had not married young) was further augmented by the latter's constitution and habits; devoid of physical and moral activity, he looked older than he was; everyone loved him for the goodness of his heart and his amiable character, but at no time had he shone with his wit.
Amanda's sister had lived in London since her marriage, that is to say, really, a short distance away; she was, however, out of his daily reach, and many long autumn evenings should be spent lonely at Hartfield before Christmas brought a visit from Isabella and her husband.
The little town of Highbury on which Hartfield, despite its commons, woods, and name, actually depended, could provide Amanda with no relation of its own. The Burtons were the important people of the place; Amanda had many acquaintances because her father was polite to everyone, but there was no one who was in a position to become a friend to her. Consequently she appreciated at its value the loss she had just suffered; her thoughts were sad but she looked cheerful as soon as her father awoke; he was a nervous man, easily depressed, very attached to all those around him, he hated any kind of change and harbored a particular aversion to marriage - origin and principle of upheaval in the family he had not yet taken his side of that of his eldest daughter and continued to speak of her with a tone of extreme compassion.
In the present case, his amiable selfishness and his inability to imagine in others feelings different from his own predisposed him to judge that Miss Taylor had acted against her own interests as well as those of her friends; he had no doubt that she would have been happier staying at Hartfield.
Amanda smiled at him and began to talk animatedly to prevent his thinking of these painful conjunctures; nevertheless, when the tea was served, he repeated exactly what he had said at dinner: "Poor Miss Taylor!" Why isn't she still with us! How unfortunate that Mr. Weston thought of her!
"It is impossible for me, Papa, to share your opinion, Mr. Weston is such a kind, excellent man that he well deserved to find an accomplished wife; and you couldn't wish that Miss Taylor would stay with us all her life to put up with my whims when she was free to own a house of her own?
"A house of her own!" What advantage do you see in it? Isn't this one three times the size, and you never have whims, my dear.
"We will visit them very often, and they will continually come to Hartfield; we will not be long in paying them the first visit.
"My dear, how do you expect me to get this far? Randalls is such a distance! I cannot walk so long.
"So daddy, is it out of the question for you to go on foot." We'll go by car, of course.
- By car ! But James won't like to hitch for so little; and the poor horses, what will become of them while we make our visit?
"We'll put them in Mr. Weston's stable: that's a done deal." As for James you can be sure that he will always be delighted to go to Randalls where his daughter is a maid. I'm even apprehensive that he no longer consents to take us anywhere else! It was you, Dad, who had the thought of proposing Anna for this good place.
"James is so grateful to you!" I am sure she will become an excellent servant: she is a polite girl, with good manners; every time I meet her she bows out to me and asks me very graciously for my news. When you brought her here to work, I noticed that she always opened the door carefully and was careful to support it while closing it. It will be a consolation to poor Miss Taylor to have a familiar face with her. Every time James visits his daughter, he'll let us know.
Amanda did her best to maintain this current of more cheerful ideas and hoped that with the help of the backgammon she would manage to get her father through the evening happily. The table was brought, but at that moment a visitor was introduced and rendered it useless.
Mr. Knightley was a man of thirty-seven, the elder brother of Isabella's husband, and at the same time a very old and intimate friend of the family. He lived half a league from Hartfield, where he often came and was always welcome; that evening, he was particularly celebrated because he had arrived from London and had just visited their common parents. It was a happy diversion, which kept Mr. Burton in good humor for some time; after obtaining all possible information about the health of his daughter and grandchildren, Mr. Burton gratefully added:
"It is very kind of you, Mr. Knightley, to come out at this late hour to pay us a visit and to brave the darkness and the cold.
"I can assure you, sir, there is a beautiful moonlight and the weather is so mild that I must get away from your big fire.
"But the road must be wet.
"Look at my boots: you see! There is not a patch of mud.
"It's amazing, because the rain has been pouring down here. I had even offered to postpone the marriage.
"By the way, I haven't offered you my congratulations yet; besides, I realize what kind of satisfaction you must feel! I hope everything went as well as possible. How did you behave? Who shed the most tears?
- Oh! poor Miss Taylor! It is a sad affair.
"Say rather: poor Mr. and Miss Burton. I have great regard for you and for Amanda , but I consider independence the first good thing! Either way, it's better to have one person to please than two.
"Especially when one of those people is such a capricious and demanding being!" Amanda said sarcastically. That's your thought from the back of your head, I know; this is what you would say if my father were not there.
"Indeed, my dear," said Mr.Burton, with a sigh; I am afraid that I am sometimes very capricious and demanding.
"But, my dear papa, you don't suppose that I meant you, or that Mr. Knightley had that intention?" What a horrible idea! Oh no ! It was about me. Mr. Knightley likes to tease me.
"Amanda knows I never flatter her," said Mr. Knightley. But in this case I did not think of criticizing it.
'Come,' said Amanda, willing not to insist, 'I see you want to hear from the wedding; I'll be happy to give it to you, because we all behaved in a charming way: not a tear; you could hardly see a defeated face. We were aware that we were going to live half a league from each other.
'My dear is so brave,' said Mr. Burton, 'but really, Mr. Knightley, she is very upset.
Amanda turned her head away, smiling and crying at the same time.
"It is impossible for Amanda not to feel the loss of such a companion," replied Mr. Knightley. We wouldn't love him as much as we love him if we could suppose; but she knows how advantageous this marriage is to Miss Taylor, how important it is at a certain age to have a home and to feel the future assured; therefore she cannot allow her grief to be stronger than her joy. All Miss Taylor's friends must rejoice to see her so happily married.
And you forget a cause of contentment, which is personal to me; I flatter myself, said Amanda, to have contributed to this marriage, which I had been planning for four years!
Mr. Knightley nodded. Mr. Burton replied affectionately:
- Oh! my dear, please don't make any more predictions, because they always come true. I also hope that you will give up planning weddings.
"I promise I won't do it on my own, Dad, but I can't make commitments about others. There is nothing more fun. I feel encouraged by this start! Everybody agreed in finding that Mr. Weston seemed very well without a wife: his business in town provided him with an occupation, and when he came here his friends occupied him; each of his evenings was taken. Some people even claimed that his wife, on her deathbed, demanded that he swear not to remarry; others than his son and uncle opposed it. They were saying all kinds of nonsense about it, but I never wanted to believe it. One morning, about four years ago, Miss Taylor and I met Mr. Weston in Broadway Lane: rain was threatening, and he showed the most gallant eagerness in running at once to borrow two umbrellas from Farmer Mitchell. From that moment I considered the possibility of this union and since then I have applied myself to bringing it to fruition. Wouldn't you like, Dad, for me to stay on my success?
"What do you mean by success?" said Mr. Knightley. Success requires effort. Now, if I am not mistaken, your part was to say to you, on a leisure day: "It seems to me that it would be good fortune for Miss Taylor if Mr. Weston married her." I even readily admit that you have expressed this wish on several occasions. Where do you see success there? What is your merit? What are you proud of? You guessed right, that's all we can say.
"Let it be so: there is always merit in guessing right. As for my poor word "success", about which you quarrel with me, I am not sure that I have no right to it. I guess there is a middle ground between having done nothing and having done everything. If I hadn't favored Mr. Weston's visits, if I hadn't encouraged him in any way, things may not have worked out just the same. You know Hartfield well enough to realize that.
A frank, loyal man like Mr. Weston and an intelligent, simple woman like Miss Taylor can easily get along, if they so desire. It is likely that your intervention has done you more harm than it has helped them.
Amanda never thinks of herself when it comes to doing service to others," interjected Mr.Burton, only half understanding the meaning of the conversation; but, my dear, meddle no more in marriages: they are foolish undertakings which break up the family circle.
"Let me negotiate one more, Dad: that of our vicar. Poor Mr. Elton! I have to find him a wife. In the year he has been living in Hartfield, he has transformed the parsonage and has shown great taste in the arrangement of its interior: it would be a pity if he remained celibate. He seemed, joining the hands of the newlyweds, quite ready, if necessary, to stretch out his own for the same purpose.
Mr. Elton is an accomplished young man and I have a high regard for him. I advise you, my dear, if you wish to give him a token of sympathy, to invite him to dinner one of these evenings: it is the best way to interest yourself in him. I'm sure Mr. Knightley will want to join us that day.
"With the greatest pleasure," replied Mr. Knightley, laughing, "and I must say that I absolutely share your opinion on this subject. Invite Mr. Elton to dinner, Amanda, he added, serve him the rarest fish and the finest chicken, but let him choose his wife! Believe me ; a twenty-seven-year-old man is capable of directing himself.
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