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Austen, Jane

"Northanger Abbey"

What do you think of my gig, Miss Morland? A neat one, is not it? Well hung; town-built; I have not had it a month. It was built for a Christchurch man, a friend of mine, a very good sort of fellow; he ran it a few weeks, till, I believe, it was convenient to have done with it. I happened just then to be looking out for some light thing of the kind, though I had pretty well determined on a curricle too; but I chanced to meet him on Magdalen Bridge, as he was driving into Oxford, last term: 'Ah! Thorpe,' said he, 'do you happen to want such a little thing as this? It is a capital one of the kind, but I am cursed tired of it.' 'Oh! D--,' said I; 'I am your man; what do you ask?' And how much do you think he did, Miss Morland?"


? ? ? ? "I am sure I cannot guess at all."


? ? ? ? "Curricle-hung, you see; seat, trunk, sword-case, splashing-board, lamps, silver moulding, all you see complete; the iron-work as good as new, or better. He asked fifty guineas; I closed with him directly, threw down the money, and the carriage was mine."


? ? ? ? "And I am sure," said Catherine, "I know so little of such things that I cannot judge whether it was cheap or dear."


? ? ? ? "Neither one nor t'other; I might have got it for less, I dare say; but I hate haggling, and poor Freeman wanted cash."


? ? ? ? "That was very good-natured of you," said Catherine, quite pleased.


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