i had not seen you for so long, dear mrs jennings, i could not resist the opportunity.
may i beg a seat beside you, miss dashwood? i have so longed to make your better acquaintance! i have heard nothing but the highest praise for you.
no, for it was from quite another source that i heard you praised and one not at all inclined to exaggeration.
oh, miss dashwood, i cannot bear it! just when i was to have the opportunity of speaking with you.
dear miss dashwood, perhaps now we might have our--discussion.
there is a particular question i have long wanted to ask you, but perhaps you will think me impertinent?
but it is an odd question. forgive me, i have no wish to trouble you--
thank you. i wonder, are you at all acquainted with your sister-in-law's mother? mrs ferrars?
i am sure you think me strange for inquiring--if i dared tell--
will you take a turn with me, miss dashwood?
oh! i am certainly nothing to mrs ferrars at present--but the time may come when we may be very intimately connected.
the youngest? no, i never saw him in my life. no, with edward.
edward and i have been secretly engaged these five years.
you may well be surprised. i should never have mentioned it, had i not known i could entirely trust you to keep our secret. edward cannot mind me telling you for he looks on you quite as his own sister.
the very same--he was four years under the tutelage of my uncle mr pratt, down in plymouth. has he never spoken of it?
i was very unwilling to enter into it without his mother's approval but we loved each other with too great a passion for prudence. though you do nor know him so well as i, miss dashwood, you must have seen how capable he is of making a woman sincerely attached to him. i cannot pretend it has not been very hard on us both. we can hardly meet above twice a year.
you seem out of sorts, miss dashwood-- are you quite well?
i have not offended you?
oh, miss dashwood, if anyone finds out, it will ruin him--you must not tell a soul! edward says you would not break your word to save your life! promise me!
we were talking of london, ma'am, and all its--diversions.
indeed, the loss would be too great.
i have written to edward, miss dashwood, and yet i do not know how much i may see of him. secrecy is vital--he will never be able to call.
it is so hard. i believe my only comfort has been the constancy of his affection.
oh! i am of rather a jealous nature and if he had talked more of one young lady than any other.  but he has never given a moment's alarm on that count.
imagine how glad he will be to learn that we are friends!
a letter! so they are definitely engaged! mrs jennings says your sister will buy her wedding clothes here in town.
miss dashwood, i declare i shall faint clean away.
oh, are we leaving so soon?
how very kind!
what a welcome i had from edward's family, miss dashwood--i am surprised you never told me what an agreeable woman your sister-in-law is! and mr robert--all so affable!
how is your dear sister, miss dashwood? poor thing! i must say, i do not know what i should do if a man treated me with so little respect.
i was never so happy in my entire life, miss dashwood! i do believe your sister-in-law has taken quite a fancy to me. i had to come and tell you--for you cannot imagine what has happened!
yesterday i was introduced to edward's mother!
and she was a vast deal more than civil. i have not yet seen edward but now i feel sure to very soon--
i am well, thank you, mr ferrars.
you must be surprised to find me here, mr ferrars! i expect you thought i was at your sister's house.
perhaps, miss marianne, you think young men never honour their engagements, little or great.
in that case perhaps you might escort me back to your sister's house, mr ferrars?
poor miss marianne looked very badly t'other day. when i think of her, deserted and abandoned, it frightens me to think i shall never marry.
how can that possibly be?
but i have no dowry.
i wish it might be so. there is a young man--
oh both--but his family would certainly oppose the match.
it is a very great secret. i have told no one in the world for fear of discovery.
if i dared tell.