Разум и чувства / Sense and Sensibility

Willoughby had no property of his own in the country; that he resided there only while he was visiting the old lady at Allenham Court, to whom he was related, and whose possessions he was to inherit; adding, �Yes, yes, he is very well worth catching I can tell you, Miss Dashwood; he has a pretty little estate of his own in Somersetshire besides; and if I were you, I would not give him up to my younger sister, in spite of all this tumbling down hills. Miss Marianne must not expect to have all the men to herself.

�I do not believe,’ said Mrs. Dashwood, with a good humoured smile, �that Mr. Willoughby will be incommoded by the attempts of either of MY daughters towards what you call CATCHING him. It is not an employment to which they have been brought up. Men are very safe with us, let them be ever so rich. I am glad to find, however, from what you say, that he is a respectable young man, and one whose acquaintance will not be ineligible.

�He is as good a sort of fellow, I believe, as ever lived,’ repeated Sir John. �I remember last Christmas at a little hop at the park, he danced from eight o’clock till four, without once sitting down.’

�Did he indeed?’ cried Marianne with sparkling eyes, �and with elegance, with spirit?’

�Yes; and he was up again at eight to ride to covert.[10 - Covert – место, где прячется дичь (чаща).

�That is what I like; that is what a young man ought to be. Whatever be his pursuits, his eagerness in them should know no moderation, and leave him no sense of fatigue.’

�Aye, aye, I see how it will be,’ said Sir John, �I see how it will be. You will be setting your cap at him now, and never think of poor Brandon.’

�That is an expression, Sir John,’ said Marianne, warmly, �which I particularly dislike. I abhor every common-place phrase by which wit is intended; and “setting one’s cap at a man,” or “making a conquest,” are the most odious of all.

Sir John did not much understand this reproof; but he laughed as heartily as if he did, and then replied,

�Ay, you will make conquests enough, I dare say, one way or other.