Nor is it to be supposed that Mr. Musgrave permitted himself to be relegated to the background, where a new and pretty woman was concerned; even had she not possessed the additional importance, in his eyes, of having aroused Lord Osborne from his habitual apathy. He addressed himself to her without loss of time, confident of success, and wholly incapable of believing that her indifference was genuine. But Emma's contempt for him, as can well be imagined, only served to aggravate the mortification from which poor Margaret was constrained to suffer; and she could not be prevailed upon to go to the Osbornes' dance, although her father had expressed his willingness to remain, for once, by himself. On the night of the ball, Emma and Elizabeth were received with every attention by Lord Osborne, who met them in the hall; and Lady Osborne both curtsied and held out her hand; but Miss Osborne contented herself with a very short curtsey; while Miss Carr found herself obliged to become so engrossed in Colonel Beresford that she could not see them at all. Lord Osborne was to open the ball with the Countess of X----, but he engaged Emma for the next two dances; and Mr. Howard secured her for the first two, and led her aside. "This is just your second dance, is it not?" "Oh, no! I have been out a year." "Preposterous! A year's licence for breaking hearts in." "Hearts so easily broken would be scarcely worth considering." "Do not you, then, preserve them in a glass case?" "I never preserve what I do not value." "So young and so untender!" "'So young, my lord, and true!'" "I did not know young ladies were students of Shakespeare." "No doubt they are more intelligent at breaking hearts, and preserving them in a glass case!" Miss Osborne, who was near to her at the moment, turned and looked at her in cold surprise, then passed on; but Emma's face was at once so arch and sweet that Mr. Howard was wholly charmed, and bending slightly over her, took a white rose from his coat and begged her to honour him by wearing it. Then as the violins were playing, and several couples leaving the room, they followed in their wake. As Emma entered the ball-room, all eyes were fixed on her--it passed from mouth to mouth that she was the prettiest woman in the room, and she was speedily acclaimed the _belle_. Gentlemen flocked round her, begging for introductions; and Tom Musgrave was foremost in presenting himself; but Emma felt so keenly all the misery he had caused her sister, that she declined to give him an engagement for any dance, and without affording him any semblance of excuse. Never before had he received such treatment at the hands of any lady, and least of all had he expected it from a Miss Watson.