
thus began:
    »Miss Woodhouse - if you are at leisure - I have something that I should
like to tell you - a sort of confession to make - and then, you know, it will be
over.«
    Emma was a good deal surprised; but begged her to speak. There was a
seriousness in Harriet's manner which prepared her, quite as much as her words,
for something more than ordinary.
    »It is my duty, and I am sure it is my wish,« she continued, »to have no
reserves with you on this subject. As I am happily quite an altered creature in
one respect, it is very fit that you should have the satisfaction of knowing it.
I do not want to say more than is necessary - I am too much ashamed of having
given way as I have done, and I dare say you understand me.«
    »Yes,« said Emma, »I hope I do.«
    »How I could so long a time be fancying myself! ...« cried Harriet, warmly.
»It seems like madness! I can see nothing at all extraordinary in him now. - I
do not care whether I meet him or not - except that of the two I had rather not
see him - and indeed I would go any distance round to avoid him - but I do not
envy his wife in the least; I neither admire her nor envy her, as I have done:
she is very charming, I dare say, and all that, but I think her very
ill-tempered and disagreeable - I shall never forget her look the other night! -
However, I assure you, Miss Woodhouse, I wish her no evil. - No, let, them be
ever so happy together, it will not give me another moment's pang: and to
convince you that I have been speaking truth, I am now going to destroy - what I
ought to have destroyed long ago - what I ought never to have kept - I know that
very well (blushing as she spoke). - However, now I will destroy it all - and it
is my particular wish to do it in your presence, that you may see how rational I
am grown. Cannot you guess what this parcel holds?« said she, with a conscious
look.
    »Not the least in the world. - Did he ever give you any thing?«
    »No - I cannot call them gifts; but they are things that I have valued very
much.«
    She held the parcel towards her,
