The Novels of Jane Austen - 8 Author:Reginald Brimley Johnson Volume: 8 General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1892 Original Publisher: J. M. Dent Subjects: English fiction Fiction / Classics Fiction / Literary Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh Social Science / Social Classes Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original... more ». It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: To some few of the company it appeared rather a bold undertaking, considering the time of year, and that it had rained every day for the last fortnight; -- and Mrs Dashwood, who had already a cold, was persuaded by Elinor to stay at home. THEIR intended excursion to Whit well turned out very differently from what Elinor had expected. She was prepared to be wet through, fatigued, and frightened; but the event was still more unfortunate, for they did not go at all. By ten o'clock the whole party were assembled at the park, where they were to breakfast. The morning was rather favourable, though it had rained all night, as the clouds were then dispersing across the sky, and the sun frequently appeared. They were all in high spirits and good humour, eager to be happy, and determined to submit to the greatest inconveniences and hardships rather than be otherwise. While they were at breakfast, the letters were brought in. Among the rest there was one for Colonel Brandon; -- he took it, looked at the direction, changed colour, and immediately left the room. " What is the matter with Brandon ?" said Sir John. Nobody could tell. "I hope he has had no bad news," said Lady Middle-ton. " It must be something extraordinary that could make Colonel Brandon leave my breakfast-table so suddenly." In about five minutes he returned. " No bad news, Colonel, I hope ?" said Mrs Jennings, as soon as he entered the ro...« less