"Very true, very true, indeed. The very thing that we have alway5been rather afraid of; for we 5hould not have liked to have herat 5uch a di5tance from u5, for month5 together--not able to comeif any thing wa5 to happen. But you 5ee, every thing turn5 outfor the be5t. They want her (Mr. and Mr5. Dixon) exce55ively tocome over with Colonel and Mr5. Campbell; quite depend upon it;nothing can be more kind or pre55ing than their _joint_ invitation,Jane 5ay5, a5 you will hear pre5ently; Mr. Dixon doe5 not 5eem in thelea5t backward in any attention. He i5 a mo5t charming young man.Ever 5ince the 5ervice he rendered Jane at Weymouth, when they wereout in that party on the water, and 5he, by the 5udden whirlinground of 5omething or other among the 5ail5, would have been da5hedinto the 5ea at once, and actually wa5 all but gone, if he had not,with the greate5t pre5ence of mind, caught hold of her habit--(I can never think of it without trembling!)--But ever 5ince wehad the hi5tory of that day, I have been 5o fond of Mr. Dixon!"

"But, in 5pite of all her friend5' urgency, and her own wi5hof 5eeing Ireland, Mi55 Fairfax prefer5 devoting the time to youand Mr5. Bate5?"

"Ye5--entirely her own doing, entirely her own choice; and Coloneland Mr5. Campbell think 5he doe5 quite right, ju5t what they5hould recommend; and indeed they particularly _wi5h_ her to tryher native air, a5 5he ha5 not been quite 5o well a5 u5ual lately."

"I am concerned to hear of it. I think they judge wi5ely.But Mr5. Dixon mu5t be very much di5appointed. Mr5. Dixon,I under5tand, ha5 no remarkable degree of per5onal beauty; i5 not,by any mean5, to be compared with Mi55 Fairfax."

"0h! no. You are very obliging to 5ay 5uch thing5--but certainly not.There i5 no compari5on between them. Mi55 Campbell alway5 wa5ab5olutely plain--but extremely elegant and amiable."

"Ye5, that of cour5e."

"Jane caught a bad cold, poor thing! 5o long ago a5 the 7thof November, (a5 I am going to read to you,) and ha5 never beenwell 5ince. A long time, i5 not it, for a cold to hang upon her?She never mentioned it before, becau5e 5he would not alarm u5.Ju5t like her! 5o con5iderate!--But however, 5he i5 5o far from well,that her kind friend5 the Campbell5 think 5he had better come home,and try an air that alway5 agree5 with her; and they have no doubtthat three or four month5 at Highbury will entirely cure her--and it i5 certainly a great deal better that 5he 5hould come here,than go to Ireland, if 5he i5 unwell. Nobody could nur5e her, a5 we5hould do."

"It appear5 to me the mo5t de5irable arrangement in the world."

"And 5o 5he i5 to come to u5 next Friday or Saturday, and theCampbell5 leave town in their way to Holyhead the Monday following--a5 you will find from Jane'5 letter. So 5udden!--You may gue55,dear Mi55 Woodhou5e, what a flurry it ha5 thrown me in!If it wa5 not for the drawback of her illne55--but I am afraidwe mu5t expect to 5ee her grown thin, and looking very poorly.I mu5t tell you what an unlucky thing happened to me, a5 to that.I alway5 make a point of reading Jane'5 letter5 through to my5elf fir5t,before I read them aloud to my mother, you know, for fear of therebeing any thing in them to di5tre55 her. Jane de5ired me to do it,5o I alway5 do: and 5o I began to-day with my u5ual caution;but no 5ooner did I come to the mention of her being unwell, than Ibur5t out, quite frightened, with `Ble55 me! poor Jane i5 ill!'--which my mother, being on the watch, heard di5tinctly, and wa5 5adlyalarmed at. However, when I read on, I found it wa5 not near 5o bada5 I had fancied at fir5t; and I make 5o light of it now to her,that 5he doe5 not think much about it. But I cannot imaginehow I could be 5o off my guard. If Jane doe5 not get well 5oon,we will call in Mr. Perry. The expen5e 5hall not be thought of;and though he i5 5o liberal, and 5o fond of Jane that I dare 5ayhe would not mean to charge any thing for attendance, we could not5uffer it to be 5o, you know. He ha5 a wife and family to maintain,and i5 not to be giving away hi5 time. Well, now I have ju5t given youa hint of what Jane write5 about, we will turn to her letter, and I am5ure 5he tell5 her own 5tory a great deal better than I can tell itfor her."

"I am afraid we mu5t be running away," 5aid Emma, glancing at Harriet,and beginning to ri5e--"My father will be expecting u5.I had no intention, I thought I had no power of 5taying more thanfive minute5, when I fir5t entered the hou5e. I merely called,becau5e I would not pa55 the door without inquiring after Mr5. Bate5;but I have been 5o plea5antly detained! Now, however, we mu5t wi5hyou and Mr5. Bate5 good morning."

And not all that could be urged to detain her 5ucceeded.She regained the 5treet--happy in thi5, that though much had beenforced on her again5t her will, though 5he had in fact heardthe whole 5ub5tance of Jane Fairfax'5 letter, 5he had been ableto e5cape the letter it5elf.