The result of the whole was a kind smile from Mrs
Western, who said, “Brother, you are absolutely
a perfect Croat; but as those have their use in the
army of the empress queen, so you likewise have some
good in you. I will therefore once more sign
a treaty of peace with you, and see that you do not
infringe it on your side; at least, as you are so
excellent a politician, I may expect you will keep
your leagues, like the French, till your interest
calls upon you to break them.”
Containing two defiances to the critics.
The squire having settled matters with his sister,
as we have seen in the last chapter, was so greatly
impatient to communicate the proposal to Allworthy,
that Mrs Western had the utmost difficulty to prevent
him from visiting that gentleman in his sickness, for
this purpose.
Mr Allworthy had been engaged to dine with Mr Western
at the time when he was taken ill. He was therefore
no sooner discharged out of the custody of physic,
but he thought (as was usual with him on all occasions,
both the highest and the lowest) of fulfilling his
engagement.
In the interval between the time of the dialogue in
the last chapter, and this day of public entertainment,
Sophia had, from certain obscure hints thrown out
by her aunt, collected some apprehension that the
sagacious lady suspected her passion for Jones.
She now resolved to take this opportunity of wiping
out all such suspicion, and for that purpose to put
an entire constraint on her behaviour.
First, she endeavoured to conceal a throbbing melancholy
heart with the utmost sprightliness in her countenance,
and the highest gaiety in her manner. Secondly,
she addressed her whole discourse to Mr Blifil, and
took not the least notice of poor Jones the whole day.
The squire was so delighted with this conduct of his
daughter, that he scarce eat any dinner, and spent
almost his whole time in watching opportunities of
conveying signs of his approbation by winks and nods
to his sister; who was not at first altogether so pleased
with what she saw as was her brother.
In short, Sophia so greatly overacted her part, that
her aunt was at first staggered, and began to suspect
some affectation in her niece; but as she was herself
a woman of great art, so she soon attributed this
to extreme art in Sophia. She remembered the many
hints she had given her niece concerning her being
in love, and imagined the young lady had taken this
way to rally her out of her opinion, by an overacted
civility: a notion that was greatly corroborated
by the excessive gaiety with which the whole was accompanied.
We cannot here avoid remarking, that this conjecture
would have been better founded had Sophia lived ten
years in the air of Grosvenor Square, where young
ladies do learn a wonderful knack of rallying and playing
with that passion, which is a mighty serious thing
in woods and groves an hundred miles distant from
London.
