Chapter 2
Jane Fairfax was an orphan, the only child of Mrs. Bates's
youngest daughter.
The marriage of Lieut. Fairfax of the ______________ regiment of
infantry, and Miss Jane Bates, had had its day of fame and
pleasure, hope and interest; but nothing now remained of it, save
the melancholy remembrance of him dying in action abroad—of his
widow sinking under consumption and grief soon afterwards—and this
girl.
By birth she belonged to Highbury: and when at three years old,
on losing her mother, she became the property, the charge, the
consolation, the fondling of her grandmother and aunt, there had
seemed every probability of her being permanently fixed there; of
her being taught only what very limited means could command, and
growing up with no advantages of connexion or im
