It was a very fine November day, and the Miss Musgroves came
through the little grounds, and stopped for no other purpose than to say,
that they were going to take a long walk, and therefore concluded
Mary could not like to go with them; and when Mary immediately replied,
with some jealousy at not being supposed a good walker, "Oh, yes,
I should like to join you very much, I am very fond of a long walk;"
Anne felt persuaded, by the looks of the two girls, that it was precisely
what they did not wish, and admired again the sort of necessity
which the family habits seemed to produce, of everything being
to be communicated, and everything being to be done together,
however undesired and inconvenient. She tried to dissuade Mary from going,
but in vain; and that being the case, thought it best to accept
the Miss Musgroves' much more cordial invitation to herself to go likewise,
as she might be useful in turning back with her sister, and lessening
the interference in any plan of their own.
"I cannot imagine why they should suppose I should not like a long walk,"
said Mary, as she went up stairs. "Everybody is always supposing
that I am not a good walker; and yet they would not have been pleased,
if we had refused to join them.
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