The next morning was gloomy and rainy, as Elizabeth informed Anne at about
seven o'clock; 'and I am not sorry for it,' said she, 'for I want to have you all to
myself at home, so we will turn the incubi over to Kate and Helen, and be
comfortable together.'
'Will they submit to such treatment?' said Anne.
'Oh yes, my dear,' said Elizabeth; 'they want us as little as we want them; they
only want a little civility, and I will not be so sparing of that useful commodity as I
was yesterday evening. And now, Anne, I am going to beg your pardon for being
so excessively rude to Harriet, as I was last night. She did not mind it, but you
did, and much more than if it had been to yourself.'
'I believe I did,' said Anne; 'other people do not know what you mean when you
set up your bristles, and I do. Besides, I was sorry for Lucy, who looks as if she
had sensitiveness enough for the whole family.'
'Poor Lucy!' said Elizabeth;
Yes, Lucy has very deep feeling; you may see it in the painful flushing of her
cheek, and the downcast look of her eye, when her mother and sister expose
themselves. I really believe that that poor girl has more to endure than most
people.'
'O Lizzie,' said Anne, 'how differently you spoke of her yesterday!'
'Yes,' said Elizabeth, 'but then I was furious with Mrs. Hazleby; and besides, I
believe the truth was, that I was very tired and very cross, not exactly the way in
which I intended to conclude the Consecration day; and now I am in my senses, I
am very sorry I behaved as I did. But, Anne, though I hereby retract all I said in
dispraise of Lucy, and confess that I was rude to Harriet, do not imagine that I
disavow all I said about society last night, for I assure you that I expressed my
deliberate opinion.'
'Your deliberate opinion, my dear?' said Anne, laughing.
'Yes, my deliberate opinion, my dear,' repeated Elizabeth. 'Pray why should not I
have a deliberate opinion, as well as Hannah More, or Locke on the Human
Understanding, or anyone else?'
