"I am extremely glad, indeed," cried Anne, "particularly glad that this

should happen; and that of two sisters, who both deserve equally well,

and who have always been such good friends, the pleasant prospect of

one should not be dimming those of the other--that they should be so

equal in their prosperity and comfort. I hope your father and mother

are quite happy with regard to both."

"Oh! yes. My father would be well pleased if the gentlemen were

richer, but he has no other fault to find. Money, you know, coming

down with money--two daughters at once--it cannot be a very agreeable

operation, and it streightens him as to many things. However, I do not

mean to say they have not a right to it. It is very fit they should

have daughters' shares; and I am sure he has always been a very kind,

liberal father to me. Mary does not above half like Henrietta's match.

She never did, you know. But she does not do him justice, nor think

enough about Winthrop. I cannot make her attend to the value of the

property. It is a very fair match, as times go; and I have liked

Charles Hayter all my life, and I shall not leave off now."

"Such excellent parents as Mr and Mrs Musgrove," exclaimed Anne,

"should be happy in their children's marriages. They do everything to

confer happiness, I am sure. What a blessing to young people to be in

such hands! Your father and mother seem so totally free from all those

ambitious feelings which have led to so much misconduct and misery,

both in young and old. I hope you think Louisa perfectly recovered

now?"

He answered rather hesitatingly, "Yes, I believe I do; very much

recovered; but she is altered; there is no running or jumping about, no

laughing or dancing; it is quite different. If one happens only to

shut the door a little hard, she starts and wriggles like a young

dab-chick in the water; and Benwick sits at her elbow, reading verses,

or whispering to her, all day long."

Anne could not help laughing. "That cannot be much to your taste, I

know," said she; "but I do believe him to be an excellent young man."

"To be sure he is. Nobody doubts it; and I hope you do not think I am

so illiberal as to want every man to have the same objects and

pleasures as myself. I have a great value for Benwick; and when one

can but get him to talk, he has plenty to say. His reading has done

him no harm, for he has fought as well as read. He is a brave fellow.

I got more acquainted with him last Monday than ever I did before. We

had a famous set-to at rat-hunting all the morning in my father's great

barns; and he played his part so well that I have liked him the better

ever since."




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