? ? ? ? At these words, Marianne's eyes expressed the astonishment which her lips could not utter. After a pause of wonder, she exclaimed--
? ? ? ? "Four months!--Have you known of this four months?"
? ? ? ? Elinor confirmed it.
? ? ? ? "What!--while attending me in all my misery, has this been on your heart?--And I have reproached you for being happy!"--
? ? ? ? "It was not fit that you should then know how much I was the reverse!"
? ? ? ? "Four months!"--cried Marianne again.--"So calm!-- so cheerful!--how have you been supported?"--
? ? ? ? "By feeling that I was doing my duty.--My promise to Lucy, obliged me to be secret. I owed it to her, therefore, to avoid giving any hint of the truth; and I owed it to my family and friends, not to create in them a solicitude about me, which it could not be in my power to satisfy."
? ? ? ? Marianne seemed much struck.
? ? ? ? "I have very often wished to undeceive yourself and my mother," added Elinor; "and once or twice I have attempted it;-- but without betraying my trust, I never could have convinced you.
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