CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The Palmers returned to Cleveland, their home in Somersetshire, the next day. A few days after they had gone, however, Mrs Jennings was taking a walk nearby, and met two young sisters who she soon discovered were her distant relatives. When Sir John heard the news, he immediately invited the two young girls to come to Barton Park for dinner. Lady Middleton was quite upset that she would quickly be having guests, as she had no time to prepare her home and children for the grand look she always hoped to have.

The young ladies arrived, and they looked quite fashionable with good manners. Lady Middleton soon became quite fond of the two sisters, as they were rather eager to compliment her home and children, which Lady Middleton loved to hear. She declared them to be very agreeable girls indeed. Sir John then went to the cottage to invite the Miss Dashwoods to meet the two Steele sisters. He declared that the two were the sweetest girls in the world, although Sir John said such things about most people he would meet.

"Do come, now," said he, "you must come. I declare you shall come. You will love the Steele girls. Lucy is quite pretty, and so friendly and agreeable! And both of the girls wish to meet the Dashwood women. You must come to meet them now!"

The Dashwoods politely declined the sudden invitation, promising to go for a visit within a day or two.

When they did go for a visit to Barton Park, they discovered the older Steele sister, Anne, to be nearly thirty years old. She looked rather plain and dull, with somewhat impolite manners, which the Dashwoods soon discovered. However, her younger sister, Lucy, was rather pretty, at twenty-two or three years old, and a great deal more clever and graceful than her sister. At the end of their visit, Elinor and Marianne had no desire to know the Steele sisters any further. The Steele girls wished to be considered highly by the Middletons, and therefore gave great compliments about the Dashwoods, insisting that they were certainly the most beautiful, elegant, and friendly girls they had ever met. Sir John hoped the Dashwood and Steele women to become excellent friends. Sir John believed that close friendships are easily formed through spending an hour together each day, no matter if their interests and characters are quite different.

Sir John told the Steele girls all the information he knew about the Dashwoods, so a friendship between the girls might grow more quickly. He was quite delighted to tell them of Marianne's interest in Willoughby and Elinor's fondness of Edward Ferrars. Of course, the girls were not pleased that their private affairs were discovered by two women they hardly knew or respected. One evening, the Steele women were asking Marianne and Elinor about their secret love interests, but Sir John, delighted to be involved in any conversation, told the curious women the name of Elinor's love.

"Ferrars!" repeated Miss Anne Steele. "Mr Ferrars is quite an agreeable man, indeed. I know him very well."

"How can you say so, Anne?" cried Lucy. "We have seen him once or twice at my uncle's, we do not know him very well."

Elinor was quite surprised to hear such news, but did not ask any questions about the matter. She was astonished to see how nervous Lucy Steele became after her sister declared them to know Edward well. Elinor suspected that the girls knew something more about Edward Ferrars, but nothing more was said.

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