Page 52 (1/1)

"I am," said he "To me it is faultless Nay,in which happiness is attainable, and were I rich enough I would instantly pull Coain in the exact plan of this cottage"

"With dark narrow stairs and a kitchen that smokes, I suppose," said Elinor

"Yes," cried he in the sa to it;--in no one convenience or INconvenience about it, should the least variation be perceptible Then, and then only, under such a roof, I ht perhaps be as happy at Combe as I have been at Barton"

"I flatter e of better rooms and a broader staircase, you will hereafter find your own house as faultless as you now do this"

"There certainly are circureatly endear it to me; but this place will always have one claim of my affection, which no other can possibly share"

Mrs Dashwood looked with pleasure at Marianne, whose fine eyes were fixed so expressively on Willoughby, as plainly denoted hoell she understood him

"How often did I wish," added he, "when I was at Allenhae were inhabited! I never passed within view of it without ad that no one should live in it How little did I then think that the very first news I should hear from Mrs Smith, when I next cae was taken: and I felt an i but a kind of prescience of what happiness I should experience from it, can account for Must it not have been so, Marianne?" speaking to her in a lowered voice Then continuing his former tone, he said, "And yet this house you would spoil, Mrs Dashwood? You would rob it of its siinary improvement! and this dear parlour in which our acquaintance first began, and in which so ether, you would degrade to the condition of a coh the room which has hitherto contained within itself more real accommodation and comfort than any other apartment of the handsomest dimensions in the world could possibly afford"

Mrs Dashwood again assured him that no alteration of the kind should be attempted