fortunate, that now it seemed as if Emma could not safely have attached herself to any other creature, and that she had herself been the stupidest of beings in not having thought of it, and wished it long ago.—­How very few of those men in a rank of life to address Emma would have renounced their own home for Hartfield!  And who but Mr. Knightley could know and bear with Mr. Woodhouse, so as to make such an arrangement desirable!—­ The difficulty of disposing of poor Mr. Woodhouse had been always felt in her husband’s plans and her own, for a marriage between Frank and Emma.  How to settle the claims of Enscombe and Hartfield had been a continual impediment—­less acknowledged by Mr. Weston than by herself—­but even he had never been able to finish the subject better than by saying—­“Those matters will take care of themselves; the young people will find a way.”  But here there was nothing to be shifted off in a wild speculation on the future.  It was all right, all open, all equal.  No sacrifice on any side worth the name.  It was a union of the highest promise of felicity in itself, and without one real, rational difficulty to oppose or delay it.

Mrs. Weston, with her baby on her knee, indulging in such reflections as these, was one of the happiest women in the world.  If any thing could increase her delight, it was perceiving that the baby would soon have outgrown its first set of caps.

The news was universally a surprize wherever it spread; and Mr. Weston had his five minutes share of it; but five minutes were enough to familiarise the idea to his quickness of mind.—­ He saw the advantages of the match, and rejoiced in them with all the constancy of his wife; but the wonder of it was very soon nothing; and by the end of an hour he was not far from believing that he had always foreseen it.

“It is to be a secret, I conclude,” said he.  “These matters are always a secret, till it is found out that every body knows them.  Only let me be told when I may speak out.—­I wonder whether Jane has any suspicion.”

He went to Highbury the next morning, and satisfied himself on that point.  He told her the news.  Was not she like a daughter, his eldest daughter?—­he must tell her; and Miss Bates being present, it passed, of course, to Mrs. Cole, Mrs. Perry, and Mrs. Elton, immediately afterwards.  It was no more than the principals were prepared for; they had calculated from the time of its being known at Randalls, how soon it would be over Highbury; and were thinking of themselves, as the evening wonder in many a family circle, with great sagacity.