"'Now did you ever! Oh, is that true? Why, you don't!'
"'Lucy Green saw him with her own eyes,' and she opens her own as big
as saucers.
"'And what did Miss Mudge say?'
"'Well, upon my word,' said she, 'I wonder what you will do next,' and
laughed so they nearly fell overboard.
"'Oh, what carryings on, ain't it, dear? But I wonder where Sarah
Matilda is? I don't see her and Captain De la Cour. I am afraid she
will get lost in the woods, and that would make people talk as they
did about Miss Mudge and Doctor Vincent, who couldn't find their way
out once till nine o'clock at night.'
"'They'll soon get back, dear,' sais the other, 'let them be; it looks
like watching them, and you know,' laying an emphasis on you, 'you and
I were young once ourselves, and so they will come back when they want
to, for though the woods have no straight paths in them, they have
short cuts enough for them that's in a hurry. Cupid has no watch,
dear; his fob is for a purse,' and she smiles wicked on the mother of
the heiress.
"Well, then, who can say this is not a pleasant day to both parties?
The old gentlemen have their nice snug business chat, and the old
ladies have their nice snug gossip chat, and the third estate (as the
head of the firm calls it, who was lately elected member for Grumble
Town, and begins to talk parliamentary), the third estate, the young
folks, the people of progression, who are not behind but rather ahead
of the age they live in, don't they enjoy themselves? It is very hard
if youth, beauty, health, good spirits, and a desire to please
(because if people havn't that they had better stay to home), can't or
won't make people happy.
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