THE YOUNGER SISTER.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
The invitation to the important party was not for an early date; ten daysmust elapse before the arrival of the day expected to bring so muchhappiness with it. The comfort of the Watson family suffered alternationswhich could only be compared to the ebbing and flowing of the tide, butthat their recurrence could not be calculated on with equal certainty. Whenthe pleasure she was to enjoy occupied her mind, Margaret was comparativelyhappy; the arrangement of her dress, the minor difficulties about ornamentsand shoes, were even then sufficient to destroy her equanimity, and detractfrom her peace of mind; but this was nothing to the state of acidity andfermentation which her temper presented, when the grand insult of not beingMiss Osborne's friend, and not invited to stay at the Castle, recurred invivid colors to her memory.
But three days before the important morning, a very unexpected event threwthe whole family into a ferment. Just as the two elder sisters were settingoff to the town, to see if their new bonnets were making the progress whichwas desirable, the sudden appearance of a post-chaise startled them. Emma,who was in her father's room as usual, heard the wheels on the gravel, andnaturally supposing that it was the old pony-chaise leaving the door, wasperfectly astonished the next minute by the startling uproar whichresounded through the hall. Loud laughter, and a mingled clatter oftongues, which might almost be denominated screaming, convinced her