Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen Fiction Classics

<p><strong>The old gentleman died: his will was read and like almost every other will gave as much disappointment as pleasure.</strong> He was neither so unjust nor so ungrateful as to leave his estate from his nephew; -- but he left it to him on such terms as destroyed half the value of the bequest. Mr. Dashwood had wished for it more for the sake of his wife and daughters than for himself or his son; -- but to his son and his son's son a child of four years old it was secured in such a way as to leave to himself no power of providing for those who were most dear to him and who most needed a provision by any charge on the estate or by any sale of its valuable woods. The whole was tied up for the benefit of this child who in occasional visits with his father and mother at Norland had so far gained on the affections of his uncle by such attractions as are by no means unusual in children of two or three years old; an imperfect articulation an earnest desire of having his own way many cunning tricks and a great deal of noise as to outweigh all the value of all the attention which for years he had received from his niece and her daughters. He meant not to be unkind however and as a mark of his affection for the three girls he left them a thousand pounds a piece. . . .</p><p><br></p><p>The novel is set in southwest England between 1792 and 1797.</p><p><br></p>