CHAPTER X X I I I 153 she immediately heard that Mary and Henrietta, too impatient to wait, had gone out the moment it had cleared, but would be back again soon, and that the strictest injunctions had been left with Mrs. Musgrove, to keep her there till they returned. She had only to submit, sit down, be outwardly composed, and feel herself plunged at once in all the agita tions which she had merely laid her account of 2 tasting a little before the morning closed. There was no delay, no waste of time. She was deep in the happiness of such misery, or the misery of such happiness, instantly. Two minutes after her entering the room, Captain Went worth said, "We will write the letter we were talking of, Harville, now, if you will give me materials. " Materials were all at hand, on a separate table; he went to it, and nearly turning his back on them all, was engrossed by writing. Mrs. Musgrove was giving Mrs. Croft the history of her eldest daugh ter's engagement, and just in that inconvenient tone of voice which was perfectly audible while it pretended to be a whisper. Anne felt that she did not belong to the conversation, and yet, as Captain Harville seemed thoughtful and not disposed to talk, she could not avoid hearing many undesirable particulars, such as "how Mr. Musgrove and my brother Hayter had met again and again to talk it over; what my brother Hayter had said one day, and what Mr. Musgrove had proposed the next, and what had occurred to my sister Hayter, and what the young people had wished, and what I said at first I never could consent to, but was after wards persuaded to think might do very well," and a great deal in the same style of open-hearted communication—Minutiae which, even with every advantage of taste and delicacy which good Mrs. Musgrove could not give, could be properly interesting only to the principals. Mrs. Croft was attending with great good humour, and whenever she spoke at all, it was very sensibly. Anne hoped the gentlemen might each be too much self-occupied to hear. "And so, ma'am, all these things considered," said Mrs. Musgrove in her powerful whisper, "though we could have wished it different, yet altogether we did not think it fair to stand out any longer; for Charles Hayter was quite wild about it, and Henrietta was pretty near as bad; and so we thought they had better marry at once, and make the best of it, as many others have done before them. At any rate, said I, it will be better than a long engagement." "That is precisely what I was going to observe," cried Mrs. Croft. "I would rather have young people setde on a small income at once, and have to struggle with a few difficulties together, than be involved in a long engagement. I always think that no mutual—" "Oh! dear Mrs. Croft," cried Mrs. Musgrove, unable to let her finish 2. Reckoned on, anticipated.
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