"Emma is not the first pretty girl who has been seen in those rooms, I believe," said Margaret sharply; "and I should like to know what being good-natured has to do with it!"
"It made her offer to dance with little Charles Willis—and by that means please his uncle and mother; it was her kindness and good-nature did that."
"No it was not; it was because she was so lucky as to sit next the boy; if she had been at the other end of the room, all the good-nature in the world would have been of no use—it was all her good luck."
"And if you had sat next to him the whole evening, should you have thought of offering to be his partner, Margaret?" enquired Elizabeth.
"Very likely not—I hate dancing with boys. But I don't understand how Emma got acquainted with Lord Osborne."
"And I cannot at all comprehend what makes your head so full of the Osbornes this morning," replied Elizabeth.
"Why we met them all this morning, and first there was Lord Osborne walking and talking with Emma, and then Mr. Howard—there never was anything like it—he came right up to the garden-gate before he left us."
"Did he indeed!" cried Elizabeth. "Do you mean Lord Osborne?"
Margaret explained, but her account was so tinctured with jealousy that Elizabeth, curious and unsatisfied, ran up after Emma who had left the room at the commencement of this discussion, to ascertain the truth from her.
Even when Emma had related everything to her sister, it seemed almost incredible—that Lord Osborne should have proposed such an introduction, and Mr. Howard promised a visit from his sister, appeared more like events in a fairy tale than the sober realities of their every-day life.