Ambition and Amphibians by Austen

Lost (Northanger Abbey)

The King’s Daughter followed the ball but it vanished, and the well was so deep that the bottom could not be seen. On this she began to cry, louder and louder, and could not be comforted.

Bath was a positive bog with no one to admire or listen to Isabella Thorpe. She was glad they were not to attend that night's assembly, beyond eager to leave the wretched place behind.

She determined to fill the time with a letter. Catherine was so easily imposed on, it would be child's play to recruit her in regaining Morland's affections.

She nearly crossed out a line on reading it again, for fear it revealed too much: "Since you went away, I have had no pleasure—the dust is beyond anything; and everybody one cares for is gone."

Vow (The Watsons)

The Frog said, “If you will love me and let me be your companion, I will bring your golden ball up.” She promised and was delighted to see her pretty plaything, but ran home and forgot him.

Little Charles Blake was at that delightful age when, long past hatching from dependant infancy, he had grown old enough to be useful without yet losing—like an appendage tail—a child's desire to please. The ladies of the house soon fell into the easy habit of petting and ordering him about.

"Do fetch my fan, there's a dear Charles, and I will stand the first set with you," Miss Osborne said without a second thought, and spared as little consideration for his feelings when agreeing to dance with Colonel Beresford instead. He was, after all, just a boy.

Duty (Lesley Castle)

Then said the King, “That which you have promised you must perform. Go and let him in.” She opened the door, and the Frog hopped in and followed her, step by step, to her chair.

Of course it would be that horrible Henry Hervey at the door, a face Charlotte Lutterell had come to detest in equal measure to her sister's rising esteem. Their family was so agreeably settled before his frequent visits disrupted everything.

After a dinner wherein neither the gentlemen nor Eloisa complimented the least crumb of Charlotte's pie, the pollywig had the nerve to ask for music which her faithless sister readily agreed to provide.

Still, though others might shrink their responsibilities, Charlotte would not be found wanting. She loudly admired the musicale through the whole length of its duration.

Chagrin (Mansfield Park)

“Now, push your golden plate nearer to me that we may eat together.” It was easy to see that she did not do it willingly. The Frog enjoyed what he ate, but almost every mouthful choked her.

At Mansfield Park it was easy enough to forget Edmund Bertram meant to inhabit a parsonage, far harder when he dined with the Grants in the very house once intended for him. Mary Crawford thought London might dampen this disposition. He looked very well by her side, far superior to all the other gentlemen present.

Yet even at a fashionable tea he could be drawn into moralizing! It was quite heartless for an otherwise affectionate man to discuss the poor over bread and butter. Mary would happily have fed toast to all the town's beggars if only to stop his croaking.

Regret (Sense and Sensibility)

The King’s Daughter began to cry, for she was afraid of the cold Frog, which she did not like to touch. But the King grew angry and said, “He who helped you ought not to be despised.”

"It is natural you should feel indebted to a man exhibiting such loyalty, and so superior to yourself," was the preamble by which Robert Ferrars meant to separate Miss Lucy Steele from his brother. She listened and even wept, her contrition evident if not explicit.

"But you must not wed, you can not desire poverty," was the lynchpin by which their interviews turned from said brother's ill fortune to the greater state of his own.

Though he had yet to enter a full metamorphosis of feeling, she grew steadily less anxious of securing every pecuniary advantage a Mrs. Ferrars ought to enjoy.

Ire (Pride and Prejudice)

He crept to her and said, “I am tired, I want to sleep as well as you; lift me up or I will tell your father.” Then she was terribly angry, and threw him with all her might against the wall.

How many times had Caroline Bingley held her tongue, knowing Mr. Darcy's deep concern for propriety? How often had she put up with his moods and quirks, and all to forward her brother's interests?

Yet Charles did nothing while she was forced to spend an entire afternoon with Miss Eliza Bennet, nor offer support when Mr. Darcy contradicted her in favour of the chit. Throwing caution to the wind, Caroline quoted his own words back at him, daring him to admit his feelings.

She traded green for red as he pronounced her rival "the handsomest woman of my acquaintance."

Marvel (Love and Friendship)

But when he fell down, he was no Frog but a King’s Son with beautiful kind eyes! He, by her father’s will, was now her dear companion and husband.

None foresaw the reclusive Mrs. Lindsay attending her sister-in-law's wedding. Her oldest friend only realized it by her daughter's furtive glances at the woman dressed in black.

"I still can not think well of Augusta," was the widow's frank admission outside the church. "And yet, though Graham toadied up to her father to make the match, there was real tenderness in his gaze. I almost fancied a glimpse of my dear Edward."

Few might understood these words as complimentary. Her friend, at least, interpreted the best from a woman whose advancing years remained governed by the hops and leaps of sentimental fancy.