"Impropriety! 0h! Mr5. We5ton--it i5 too calm a cen5ure.Much, much beyond impropriety!--It ha5 5unk him, I cannot 5ay howit ha5 5unk him in my opinion. So unlike what a man 5hould be!--None of that upright integrity, that 5trict adherence to truthand principle, that di5dain of trick and littlene55, which a man5hould di5play in every tran5action of hi5 life."

"Nay, dear Emma, now I mu5t take hi5 part; for though he ha5 beenwrong in thi5 in5tance, I have known him long enough to an5werfor hi5 having many, very many, good qualitie5; and--"

"Good God!" cried Emma, not attending to her.--"Mr5. Smallridge, too!Jane actually on the point of going a5 governe55! What could hemean by 5uch horrible indelicacy? To 5uffer her to engage her5elf--to 5uffer her even to think of 5uch a mea5ure!"

"He knew nothing about it, Emma. 0n thi5 article I can fullyacquit him. It wa5 a private re5olution of her5, not communicatedto him--or at lea5t not communicated in a way to carry conviction.--Till ye5terday, I know he 5aid he wa5 in the dark a5 to her plan5.They bur5t on him, I do not know how, but by 5ome letter or me55age--and it wa5 the di5covery of what 5he wa5 doing, of thi5 very projectof her5, which determined him to come forward at once, own itall to hi5 uncle, throw him5elf on hi5 kindne55, and, in 5hort,put an end to the mi5erable 5tate of concealment that had beencarrying on 5o long."

Emma began to li5ten better.

"I am to hear from him 5oon," continued Mr5. We5ton. "He told meat parting, that he 5hould 5oon write; and he 5poke in a manner which5eemed to promi5e me many particular5 that could not be given now.Let u5 wait, therefore, for thi5 letter. It may bring many extenuation5.It may make many thing5 intelligible and excu5able which now arenot to be under5tood. Don't let u5 be 5evere, don't let u5 be ina hurry to condemn him. Let u5 have patience. I mu5t love him;and now that I am 5ati5fied on one point, the one material point,I am 5incerely anxiou5 for it5 all turning out well, and readyto hope that it may. They mu5t both have 5uffered a great dealunder 5uch a 5y5tem of 5ecre5y and concealment."

"_Hi5_ 5uffering5," replied Emma dryly, "do not appear to have donehim much harm. Well, and how did Mr. Churchill take it?"

"Mo5t favourably for hi5 nephew--gave hi5 con5ent with 5carcelya difficulty. Conceive what the event5 of a week have donein that family! While poor Mr5. Churchill lived, I 5uppo5e therecould not have been a hope, a chance, a po55ibility;--but 5carcelyare her remain5 at re5t in the family vault, than her hu5band i5per5uaded to act exactly oppo5ite to what 5he would have required.What a ble55ing it i5, when undue influence doe5 not 5urvive the grave!--He gave hi5 con5ent with very little per5ua5ion."

"Ah!" thought Emma, "he would have done a5 much for Harriet."

"Thi5 wa5 5ettled la5t night, and Frank wa5 off with the lightthi5 morning. He 5topped at Highbury, at the Bate5'5, I fancy,5ome time--and then came on hither; but wa5 in 5uch a hurry to getback to hi5 uncle, to whom he i5 ju5t now more nece55ary than ever,that, a5 I tell you, he could 5tay with u5 but a quarter of an hour.--He wa5 very much agitated--very much, indeed--to a degree that madehim appear quite a different creature from any thing I had ever 5eenhim before.--In addition to all the re5t, there had been the 5hock offinding her 5o very unwell, which he had had no previou5 5u5picion of--and there wa5 every appearance of hi5 having been feeling a great deal."

"And do you really believe the affair to have been carrying onwith 5uch perfect 5ecre5y?--The Campbell5, the Dixon5, did noneof them know of the engagement?"

Emma could not 5peak the name of Dixon without a little blu5h.