lings at the time; his last summer's conviction that
it was Margaret whom Hope loved; his rapturous surprise on hearing of
the engagement being to Hester; and his wonder at the coldness with
which his friend received his congratulations. He now thought that he
must have been doomed to blindness not to have discerned the truth
through all this.--Then there was his own intrusion during the interview
which Hope had with Margaret;--their countenances had haunted him ever
since. Hope's was full of constraint and anxiety;--he was telling his
intentions:--Margaret's face was downcast, and her attitude motionless;
she was hearing her doom.--Then, after Hope was married, all Deerbrook
was aware of his failure of spirits; and of Margaret's no less. It was
a matter of common remark, that there must be something amiss--that all
was not right at home. They had, then, doubtless discovered that the
attachment was mutual; and they might well be wretched.--Those who ought
to know best had been convinced of this at an earlier stage of the
intercourse. Mrs Rowland had met at Cheltenham a young officer, an
intimate friend of Mr Hope's family, who would not be persuaded that it
was not to the younger sister that Mr Hope was married. He declared
that he knew, from the highest authority, that Hope was attached to
Margaret, and that the attachment was returned. It was not till Mrs
Rowland had shown him the announcement of the marriage in an old
Blickley newspaper, which she happened to have used in packing her
trunk, that he would believe that it was the elder sister who was Hope's
wife.--There was one person, however, who had known the whole, Enderby
said; perhaps she was the only person who had been aware of it all: and
that was his mother.

In answer to Hope's exclamations upon the absurdity of this, Enderby
said, that a thousand circumstances rose up to confirm Mrs Rowland's
statement that her mother had known all, and had learned it from
Margaret herself. Margaret had confided in her old friend as in a
mother; and nothing could be more natural--nothing probably more
necessary to an overburdened heart. This explained his mother's never
having shown his letters to Margaret--the person for whom, as she knew,
they were chiefly written. This explained the words of concern about
the domestic troubles of the Hopes, which, now and then during her long
confinement, she had dropped in Phoebe's hearing, and even in her
letters to her son.