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Chapter 13
EVEN SUCH TE MPORARY forgetfulness of the new arrival in Sanditon became an impossibility once they had crossed the threshold of Trafalgar House. Sidney Parker had already called there and his brother could talk of nothing else. "Only think of it, Mary," he cried. "To have him with us at last! And two of his friends joining him tomorrow! So exactly the set of young people we want encouraged among us; they will lend a proper fashionable air to the place. Even for a few days it may do a great deal -- but I wonder how long they will stay? They are sure to be most excellent young men if they are friends of Sidney`s." Charlotte had already noticed that Mr. Parker tended to judge people by their usefulness to Sanditon, the respectable tone they lent it or the admiration they expressed for it rather than on their own merits. She was not at all surprised when he continued his commendation of Sidney by repeating with strong delight his recent praise of Sanditon. "He is all amazement at the improvements and developments since he was last here -- so many new houses finished, our plantation growing up so quickly, such activity on the hill and the Terrace. But still he tends to make a joke of it. He will joke about everything, you know. He has been making me laugh most heartily for the past hour and is now gone off to call on Susan and Diana. He vows he will bring them all to dinner with us this evening. I hope, my love, that Reynolds will prove equal to providing a family dinner at short notice if Sidney can prevail with them? I told him we could always squeeze in another four without a doubt. They eat nothing, we know, but we must do our best to tempt them." Mrs. Parker, who always kept a very good table, murmured something about a saddle-of-mutton which Mr. Parker would be carving himself, hesitated between adding a couple of birds or some well-filled corner dishes and ended by doubting whether the entire Parker family could ever be induced to take dinner with them. "I am sure Diana will come if she is feeling up to it," she decided. "But not even Sidney could persuade Arthur or Susan to venture out in the evening air. They have never done so before." "Nor have they," said Mr. Parker, much struck. "It is time they dined with us." "Susan has not yet climbed our hill during the daytime." "Depend upon it my dear, Sidney will persuade them all to come," Mr. Parker assured her with undiminished cheerfulness. "He will consider such objections as they make mere nonsense and will have his own way in the end." And this optimism was soon justified. Shortly after midday, a message arrived from Miss Diana confirming the projected family dinner; and by five o`clock Sidney and Arthur could be observed from an upper window escorting their sisters up the hill. The very real pleasure which the whole family then shared on being together could only be remarked by Charlotte with approval. Her own large family of brothers and sisters had scarcely ever been separated and she wondered if they would undergo such a great improvement in collective amiability as did the Parkers on their reunion. Diana, always active and talkative, was more melIow and good-humoured; Miss Parker less eccentric in her facial contortions; Mr. Parker more exuberant than ever; and Arthur wore the look of complete satisfaction which he usually reserved for his food. On their entering the drawing room amid all the early confusion of warm greetings, unanswered questions and unfinished sentences, Charlotte at first stood a little apart. But Arthur, finding nobody was listening to him, soon detached himself from the knot at the door and came towards her. Eager to communicate what he felt about the situation to someone he hoped would attend, he exclaimed, "Well, Miss Heywood, did you ever know anything so delightful as this? Sidney is a capital fellow and makes us all lively. It always is so. He will be setting schemes afoot for the few days he is here and turning us all upside down." The enthusiasm with which Arthur appeared to welcome this possibility convinced Charlotte that boredom rather than ill-health was his main problem. The constant company of his sisters must sometimes be irksome to a young man of one and twenty; and the regard he seemed to have for his brother was no doubt founded in part on a desire for occasional excitement and novelty. But Miss Parker`s voice could also be heard amid the babble at the entrance, predicting with complacence that "everything will be at sixes and sevens now Sidney is here." And Diana, issuing brisk directions to Morgan about the various packets of herb tea they had brought with them, made the tolerant exclamation: "There, I knew Sidney would forget to bring Susan`s phials from the mantelpiece. Ah well, for one evening what does it matter? It is not often we can assemble in such a pleasant family group.` It was a group which could not but interest Charlotte. The peculiar licence which his brothers and sisters apparently extended to Mr. Sidney Parker had already attracted her attention; and long before she had an opportunity of talking with him herself, she was watching him and attending to his conversation with the others. There was a novelty in his character which to her was certainly pleasing. His person was uncommonly fine for he was the tallest of the family; his countenance, though not regularly handsome, was made nearly so by a pair of very alert and intelligent eyes; and his manners were at once so animated and yet so polished that she thought it must be impossible for him to be other than amiable, and was ready to give him the credit for being perfectly so. "And what of these friends of yours, Sidney?" demanded Mr. Parker as soon as they were seated at dinner. "You have not yet given us an account of them or why they are joining you here. Will they stay long? Have you mentioned them to us before? I have been puzzling ever since this morning why you should be meeting them in Sanditon." "You may have heard me speak of them -- I have known them both some time. Reginald Catton and Henry Brudenall." "Catton -- the young man who is always buying curricles? Admired that yellow one of yours and had it copied? You stayed with him last year in Shropshire? And did you not once say he also had a town house? Not married yet, is he? Why should he be putting up at a hotel in Sanditon?` Although Mr. Parker was the elder brother by some seven years, his quick curiosity and infectious enthusiasm about everything sometimes made him appear the younger of the two. "Reginald will not be staying more than a night or two, if that," explained his brother, replying only to the most relevant of the questions. "His only purpose in coming is to drive our mutual friend down from London. And my purpose in meeting them "Nothin our good sea air will not be able to cure, I hope," said Mr. Parker. "Sea air may be beneficial for some complaints; but there are certainly many others -- mine and Susans`s and I am sure Arthur`s too -- which derive no value from the sea whatsoever. Any sort of nervous complaint, bile, lumbago, rheumaticky disorders should be kept well away from the sea. Bronchial conditions too. l trust Mr. Brudenall does not suffer from asthma? Sanditon will certainly kill him within his fortnight if he does." Sidney, who appeared to Charlotte to have some earlier difficulty in maintaining complete composure, assured his sister with perfect gravity that Mr. Brudenall was not suffering from asthma. "In fact there is nothing seriously the matter with Henry. When I spoke of his health, I was not referring to either its past or present state, but rather to the future, he said somewhat obscurely; he paused, apparently decided some further explanation was necessary, and continued: "The case is that Henry is soon to go out to India. Being the younger son of a respectable but impoverished family, there is not much future for him in England, and he is being sent off to make his fortune in Bengal. With a sea voyage of several months ahead of him, his family feel he should harden his constitution by some earlier exposure to the sea air. "I see," said Mr. Parker doubtfully. "You mean he is quite healthy otherwise?" demanded Diana, her disappointment overshadowing her judgement. "It seems to me a singular manner of proceeding," Mrs. Parker had begun when Arthur, who had been staring fixedly at his brother, suddenly burst out laughing and said, "Oh, but it is all a complete hum. Sidney is making up the whole story. I can tell by his face. It is nothing but one of his take-ins." Sidney smiled at him. "Let us say I only half expected you to be taken in by it," he admitted frankly. "And I must confess I had forgotten, when I so unwisely mentioned health, how you would all go plagueing Henry about asthma and bile and nervous disorders till you had diagnosed him to your satisfaction. On the spur of the moment my powers of invention failed me and I could hit upon no better story than that. It is quite true that he is going to Bengal. But now I suppose I must let you fully into the secret; though to all outsiders I think it best to maintain the fiction that Henry is here in Sanditon for his health. They at least should be too tactful to enquire the exact nature of his complaints." He said this in a more serious tone than he had used previously and went on to explain that his friend`s lack of spirits, which called for some weeks of retirement, resulted more from the state of the heart than that of the body. Mr. Brudenall had been for many years most warmly attached to a cousin and she to him. They had always intended to marry before setting out for India, which his family indeed had in mind for him from a very early age. Their betrothal, although a close family secret, had been approved by both sets of parents; but on her side it was felt that she should be given the enjoyment of a season in London before entering upon the long and no doubt cheerless exile in Bengal. Next year had been the time fixed for their marriage and departure. And what had been Henry`s dismay when he had heard -- only last month -- of his cousin`s public engagement to another. Sidney Parker believed it impossible for a man to be more attached to a woman than Henry had been to his cousin. Even now he uttered no word of reproach towards her. He felt his future was a dismal one and he did not blame her for choosing a better match and a more comfortable existence. But his father was now truly anxious to hasten his departure from England as a means of providing some new direction for his thoughts, to remove him from past associations and settle him as early as possible in the circle where he would spend the rest of his life. preparations for his journey were now well in hand, but his cousin`s wedding would be taking place within the next fortnight; and as their assembled families would be expected to attend, it was thought more convenient for Henry to absent himself from London. Sidney and his friend, Reginald Catton, being consulted over the problem, had decided Reginald would drive Henry to Sanditon on his own way to Brighton; and Sidney would ensure his introduction there among strangers, who would know nothing and ask nothing about him during this very delicate period. "I do not object to taking my own family into my confidence over this; but what I have told you must go no further than this table," he warned them. "Henry is a most sensitive young man and would be deeply upset if he felt everyone he met in Sanditon was pitying him on his cousin`s wedding day." The sympathy and good will which Sidney had now excited towards his friend was very great. "poor young man," said Diana. "But you have done very well in telling us this, Sidney. It is very bad that his prospects have been blighted by a thoughtless young woman, but who knows what unguarded remarks we might have let fall had we not known the full circumstances?" "Indeed yes," agreed Mrs. Parker. "It is always better to tell the truth." Arthur, who was still watching his brother intently, appeared quite satisfied this time. And Sidney, after a quick glance round the dinner table which confirmed his impression that Henry Brudenall would meet with only tact and kindness in Sanditon, was content to drop the subject and turn the conversation on other matters.
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