be to him: For you
know, my dear,« said he, »I would never willingly be a Moment out of your
Sight.«
    In the Afternoon Amelia sent to invite Mrs. Ellison to a Dish of Tea; and
Booth undertook to laugh off all that had past Yesterday, in which Attempt, the
abundant good Humour of that Lady gave him great Hopes of Success.
    Mrs. Bennet came that Afternoon to make a Visit, and was almost an Hour with
Booth and Amelia, before the Entry of Mrs. Ellison.
    Mr. Booth had hitherto rather disliked this young Lady, and had wondered at
the Pleasure which Amelia declared she took in her Company. This Afternoon,
however, he changed his Opinion, and liked her almost as much as his Wife had
done. She did indeed behave at this Time with more than ordinary Gaiety; and
Good-humour gave a Glow to her Countenance that set off her Features, which were
very pretty, to the best Advantage, and lessened the Deadness that had usually
appeared in her Complexion.
    But if Booth was now pleased with Mrs. Bennet, Amelia was still more pleased
with her than ever. For when their Discourse turned on Love, Amelia discovered
that her new Friend had all the same Sentiments on that Subject with herself. In
the Course of their Conversation, Booth gave Mrs. Bennet a Hint of wishing her a
good Husband, upon which both the Ladies declaimed against second Marriages,
with equal Vehemence.
    Upon this Occasion, Booth and his Wife discovered a Talent in their
Visitant, to which they had been before entirely Strangers, and for which they
both greatly admired her; and this was that the Lady was a good Scholar, in
which indeed she had the Advantage of poor Amelia, whose Reading was confined to
English Plays, and Poetry; besides which, I think, she had conversed only with
the Divinity of the great and learned Dr. Barrow, and with the Histories of the
excellent Bishop Burnet.
     Amelia delivered herself on the Subject of second Marriages with much
Eloquence and great good Sense; but when Mrs. Bennet came to give her Opinion,
she spoke in the following Manner, »I shall not enter into the Question
concerning the Legality of Bigamy. Our Laws certainly allow it, and so, I think,
doth our Religion. We are now debating only on the Decency of it, and in this
Light, I own myself as strenuous an Advocate against it, as any Roman Matron
would have been in those Ages of the Commonwealth, when it was held to be
infamous. For my own part,