you, you appear highly the Object of Compassion; and I
shall always esteem you, as an innocent and an unfortunate Woman.«
    Amelia would then have taken her Leave; but Mrs. Bennet so strongly pressed
her to stay to Breakfast, that at length she complied: Indeed she had fasted so
long, and her gentle Spirits had been so agitated with Variety of Passions, that
Nature very strongly seconded Mrs. Bennet's Motion.
    Whilst the Maid was preparing the Tea-equipage, Amelia, with a little
Slyness in her Countenance, asked Mrs. Bennet, if Serjeant Atkinson did not
lodge in the same House with her. The other reddened so extremely at the
Question, repeated the Serjeant's Name with such Hesitation, and behaved so
aukwardly, that Amelia wanted no further Confirmation of her Suspicions. She
would not, however, declare them abruptly to the other; but began a Dissertation
on the Serjeant's Virtues; and after observing the great Concern which he had
manifested, when Mrs. Bennet was in her Fit, concluded with saying, she believed
the Serjeant would make the best Husband in the World: For that he had great
Tenderness of Heart, and a Gentleness of Manners, not often to be found in any
Man; and much seldomer in Persons of his Rank.
    »And why not in his Rank?« said Mrs. Bennet, »Indeed, Mrs. Booth, we rob the
lower Order of Mankind of their Due. I do not deny the Force and Power of
Education; but when we consider how very injudicious is the Education of the
better Sort in general, how little they are instructed in the Practice of
Virtue, we shall not expect to find the Heart much improved by it. And even as
to the Head, how very slightly do we commonly find it improved, by what is
called a genteel Education! I have myself, I think, seen Instances of as great
Goodness, and as great Understanding too, among the lower Sort of People, as
among the higher. Let us compare your Serjeant now, with the Lord who hath been
the Subject of Conversation; on which Side would an impartial Judge decide the
Balance to incline?«
    »How monstrous then,« cries Amelia, »is the Opinion of those, who consider
our matching ourselves the least below us in Degree, as a Kind of
Contamination!«
    »A most absurd and preposterous Sentiment,« answered Mrs. Bennet warmly,
»how abhorrent from Justice, from common Sense, and from Humanity - but how
extremely incongruous with a Religion, which professes to know