LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN
You will be surprised to hear that Jenny is not
yet come back; we have heard nothing of her
since her reaching Itchingswell, and can only
suppose that she must be detained by illness in
somebody or other, and that she has been each
day expecting to be able to come on the morrow.
I am glad I did not know beforehand that she
was to be absent during the whole or almost the
whole of our friends being with us, for though
the inconvenience has not been nothing, I should
have feared still more. Our dinners have certainly
suffered not a little by having only
Molly’s head and Molly’s hands to conduct them;
she fries better than she did, but not like
Jenny.
We did not take our walk on Friday, it was too dirty, nor have we yet done it; we may perhaps do something like it to-day, as after seeing Frank skate, which he hopes to do in the meadows by the beech, we are to treat ourselves with a passage over the ferry. It is one of the pleasantest frosts I ever knew, so very quiet. I hope it will last some time longer for Frank’s sake, who is quite anxious to get some skating; he tried yesterday, but it would not do.
Our acquaintance increase too fast. He was recognized lately by Admiral Bertie, and a few days since arrived the Admiral and his daughter
Catherine to wait upon us. There was nothing
