"You do not like him, do you, Miss Neville? I am sure Charles is worth twenty such men as Mr. Vavasour." "I know so little of either." "Oh, nonsense! It is a very safe reply, no doubt, but it will not do. My cousin was here half the summer." "Only a fortnight the first time he came; and the second visit he made, I was at Ashleigh, at home." "Quite long enough for you to find out what a good-for-nothing, kind-hearted creature he is. Besides, for the fortnight you had the field all to yourself, and after that advantage ought not to allow another to bowl you out." "How you do talk, Anne; I am sure Miss Neville does not understand one half you are saying, you go on at such a rate." "Of course I do; what is the use of sitting like this?" and she clasped her two hands together on her lap and twirled her thumbs. "Do tell me what you two say to one another when I am not here, for if Mag comes every night, and I suppose she does not go to that sick-body's room, seeing she dresses herself up in a style enough to frighten half a dozen children, with the belief she is the veritable 'Bogy,' you surely do not sit like two Quakeresses, without a word, waiting for the spirit to move you. Positively, Miss Neville, I look upon Mag's coming here as an invasion of my rights, since I am left shivering in bed, and frightened to death for fear of ghosts. They do say the house is haunted; and once I nearly fainted when a coal dropped out of the fire into the fender. I really thought the ghost had come, and durst not emerge from under the bedcloths until I was pretty nearly smothered." "You surely are not afraid of ghosts, Miss Bennet?" "Oh, but I am, though, ghosts, hobgoblins, thieves, and every other existing and non-existing horror; and if we are to talk of such things, I vote for the door being locked. Do stir the fire, and turn up the lamp. There, it does look rather less gloomy now. But how cold it is!" "Cold?" said Julia, "I am as warm as a toast." "No doubt of it Mag, so cosily as you are wrapped up in 'joint-stock property.' I wonder you are not ashamed to let me see you looking so comfortable, even your feet tucked up too. Would you believe it, Miss Neville, 'joint-stock property' is that dressing-gown, and belongs to both of us, hence its name, but Mag coolly walks off with it in this most shameful way every night." "Perhaps she thinks you do not want it." "I suppose she does; but having, as I say a share in it, I think I might be allowed to wear it sometimes." "By all means, Anne. Why not?" said her sister.