Hello.
Welcome to Sleep Stories with Steph,
Your go-to romantic podcast that guarantees you a calm and entertaining transition into a great night's sleep.
Come with me as we immerse ourselves in a romantic journey to a time long since forgotten.
But before we begin,
Let's take a moment to focus on where we are now.
Take a deep breath in through your nose and let it out with a long sigh.
That's it.
Now close your eyes and feel yourself sink deeper into the support beneath you.
It is time to relax and fully let go.
There is nothing you need to be doing now and nowhere you need to go.
Happy listening.
Persuasion by Jane Austen Chapter 12 Continued It now became necessary for the party to consider what was best to be done as to their general situation.
They were now able to speak to each other and consult.
That Louisa must remain where she was,
However distressing to her friends to be involving the Harvilles in such trouble,
Did not admit a doubt.
Her removal was impossible.
The Harvilles silenced all scruples and as much as they could,
All gratitude.
The Harvilles silenced all scruples and as much as they could,
All gratitude.
They looked forward and arranged everything before the others began to reflect.
Captain Benwick must give up his room to them and get another bed elsewhere,
And the hall was settled.
They were only concerned that the house should accommodate no more,
And yet perhaps by putting the children away in the maid's room or swinging a cot somewhere,
They could hardly bear to think of not finding room for two or three besides,
Supposing they might wish to stay.
Though with regard to any attendance on Miss Musgrove,
There need not be the least uneasiness in leaving her to Mrs.
Harville's care entirely.
Mrs.
Harville was a very experienced nurse,
And her nursery maid who'd lived with her long and gone about with her everywhere was just such another.
Between these two,
She could want no possible attendance by day or night,
And all this was said with a truth and sincerity of feeling irresistible.
Charles,
Henrietta and Captain Wentworth were the only three in consultation,
And for a little while it was only an interchange of perplexity and terror.
Uppercross,
The necessity of somebody going to Uppercross,
The news to be conveyed,
How it could be broken to Mr.
And Mrs.
Musgrove,
The lateness of the morning and hour already had gone since,
The impossibility of being in tolerable time.
At first they were capable of nothing more to the purpose than such exclamations,
But after a while Captain Wentworth,
Exerting himself,
Said,
We must be decided,
And without the loss of another minute.
Every minute is valuable.
Someone must resolve on being offered Uppercross instantly.
Musgrove,
Either you or I must go.
Charles agreed,
But declared his resolution of not going away.
He would be as little encumbrance as possible to Captain and Mrs.
Harville,
But as to leaving his sister in such a state,
He'd rather not.
So far it was decided,
And Henrietta at first declared the same.
She,
However,
Was soon persuaded to think differently.
The usefulness of her staying,
She who had not been able to remain in Louise's room or to look at her without sufferings,
Which made her worse than helpless.
She was forced to acknowledge she could do no good,
Yet she was still unwilling to be away.
Until,
Touched by the thought of her father and mother,
She gave it up,
Consented,
And was anxious to be at home.
The plan had reached this point when Anne,
Coming quietly down from Louise's room,
Could not but hear what followed,
For the parlour door was open.
Then it is settled,
Musgrove,
Cried Captain Wentworth,
That you stay and I take care of your sister home.
But as to the rest,
As to the others,
If one stays to assist Mrs.
Harville,
I think it need only be one.
Mrs.
Charles Musgrove will,
Of course,
Wish to get back to her children,
But if Anne will stay,
No one so proper,
So capable,
As Anne.
She paused a moment to recover from the emotion of hearing herself so spoken of.
The other two warmly agreed with what he said,
And then she appeared.
You will stay,
I am sure,
You will stay and nurse her,
Cried he,
Turning to her and speaking with a glow,
And yet a gentleness which seemed almost restoring the past.
She coloured deeply,
And he recollected himself and moved away.
She expressed herself most willing,
Ready,
And happy to remain.
It was what she had been thinking of,
And wished to be allowed to do.
A bed on the floor in Louise's room would be sufficient for her,
If Mrs.
Harville would but think so.
One thing more,
And all seemed arranged.
Though it was rather desirable that Mr.
And Mrs.
Musgrove should be previously alarmed by some share of delay,
Yet the time required by the Uppercross horses to take them back would be a dreadful extension of suspense,
And Captain Wentworth proposed,
And Charles Musgrove agreed,
That it would be much better for him to take a chase from the inn,
And leave Mr.
Musgrove's carriage and horses to be sent home the next morning early,
When there would be the further advantage of sending in a count of Louise's night.
Captain Wentworth now hurried off to get everything ready on his part,
And to soon be followed by the two ladies.
When the plan was made to Mary,
However,
There was an end of all peace in it.
She was so wretched and so vehement,
Complained so much of injustice at being expected to go away instead of Anne,
Who was nothing to Louisa,
While she was her sister and had the best right to stay at Henrietta's instead.
Why was she not to be as useful as Anne,
And to go home without Charles too,
Without her husband?
No,
It was too unkind,
And in short,
She said more than her husband could long withstand,
And as none of the others could oppose when he gave way,
There was no help for it.
The change of Mary for Anne was inevitable.
Anne had never submitted more reluctantly to the jealous and ill-judging claims of Mary,
But so it must be,
And they set off for the town,
Charles taking care of his sister,
And Captain Benwick attending to her.
She gave a moment's recollection as they hurried along,
To the little circumstances which the same spots had witnessed earlier in the morning.
Then she'd listened to Henrietta's schemes for Doctor Shirley's leaving up a cross.
Farther on,
She had first seen Mr Elliot.
A moment seemed all that could now be given to anyone but Louisa,
Or those who were wrapped in her welfare.
Captain Benwick was most considerably attentive to her,
And as they all seemed by the distress of the day,
She felt an increasing degree of goodwill towards him,
And a pleasure even in thinking that it might,
Perhaps,
Be the occasion of continuing their acquaintance.
Captain Wentworth was on the watch for them,
And a chaise en four in waiting,
Stationed for their convenience in the lowest part of the street.
But his evident surprise and vexation at the substitution of one sister for the other,
The change in his countenance,
The astonishment,
The expressions begun and suppressed with which Charles was listened to,
Made but a mortifying reception of Anne.
Anne endeavoured to be composed,
And to be just.
Without emulating the feelings of an Emma towards her Henry,
She would have attended on Louisa with a zeal above the common claims of regard for his sake,
And she hoped he would not long be so unjust as to suppose she would shrink unnecessarily from the office of a friend.
In the meanwhile,
She was in the carriage.
He had handed them both in,
And placed himself between them,
And in this manner,
Under these circumstances,
Full of astonishment and emotion to Anne,
She quitted lying.
How the long stage would pass,
How it was to affect their manners,
What was to be their sort of intercourse,
She could not foresee.
It was all quite natural,
However.
Captain Wentworth was devoted to Henrietta,
Always turning towards her,
And when he spoke at all,
Always with a view of supporting her hopes and raising her spirits.
In general,
His voice and manner were studiously calm.
To spare Henrietta from agitation seemed the governing principle.
Once only,
When she had been grieving over the last ill-judged,
Ill-fated walk to the Cobb,
Bitterly lamenting that it had ever been thought of,
He burst forth as if wholly overcome.
Don't talk of it,
Don't talk of it,
He cried,
God that I had not given way to her at that fatal moment.
Had I done as I ought,
But so eagerly and so resolute,
Dear sweet Louisa.
Anne wondered whether it ever occurred to him now to question the justness of his own previous opinion as to the universal felicity and advantage of firmness of character,
And whether it might not strike him that,
Like all other qualities of the mind,
It should have its proportions and limits.
She thought it could scarcely escape him to feel a persuadable temper might sometimes be as much in favour of happiness as a very resolute character.
They got on fast.
Anne was astonished to recognise the same hills and same objects so soon.
Their actual speed,
Heightened by some dread of the conclusion,
Made the road appear but as half as long as on the day before.
It was growing quite dusk,
However,
Before they were in the neighbourhood of Uppercross,
And there had been total silence among them for some time,
Henrietta leaning back in the corner with a shawl over her face,
Giving the hope of her having cried herself to sleep,
When,
As they were going up their last hill,
Anne found herself all at once addressed by Captain Wentworth.
In a low,
Cautious voice,
He said,
I've been considering what we had best do.
She must not appear at first.
She could not stand it.
I've been thinking whether you had better not remain in the carriage with her while I go in and break it to Mr and Mrs Musgrove.
Do you think this is a good plan?
She did.
He was satisfied,
And said no more.
But the remembrance of the appeal remained a pleasure to her as a proof of friendship and of deference for her judgment,
A great pleasure.
And when it became a sort of parting proof,
Its value did not lessen.
When the distressing communications to Uppercross was over,
And he had seen the father and mother quite as composed as could be hoped,
And the daughter all the better for being with them,
He announced his intention of returning in the same carriage to Lyne,
And when the horses were baited,
Captain Wentworth was off.
