have been sporting with the affections of her sister from
the first, without any design that would bear investiga-
tion. Absence might have weakened his regard, and
convenience might have determined him to overcome it,
but that such a regard had formerly existed she could
not bring herself to doubt.

As for Marianne, on the pangs which so unhappy
a meeting must already have given her, and on those
still more severe which might await her in its probable
consequence, she could not reflect without the deepest
concern. Her own situation gained in the comparison;
for while she could esteem Edward as much as ever,
however they might be divided in future, her mind
might be always supported. But every circumstance
that could embitter such an evil seemed uniting to
heighten the misery of Marianne in a final separation
from Willoughby--in an immediate and irreconcileable
rupture with him.

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