our theatricals

"It is as a dream, a pleasant dream!" he exclaimed, breaking forth again after few minutes musing. "I shall always look back on our theatricals with exquisite pleasure. There was such an interest, such an animation, such a spirit diffused! Every body felt it. We were all alive. There was employment, hope, solicitude, bustle, for every hour of the day. Always some little objection, some little doubt, some little anxiety to be got over. I was never happier."

With silent indignation, Fanny repeated to herself, "Never happier! - never happier than when doing what you must know what not justifiable! - never happier than when behaving so dishonorably and unfeelingly! - Oh! what a corrupted mind!"

Mansfield Park
Vol II Chapter V
Jane Austen