I didn't quite follow this well - is it just that since the Morlands haven't given consent yet, Mrs. Thorpe and John are being rather secretive, and Isabella's younger sisters haven't been told everything, although they suspect, they are not necessarily joyful for their sister but rather play guessing games since no one has really given them all the facts? I just thought this rather strange.

What do others think or know on this? Thanks.

Full quote: Mrs. Thorpe and her son, who were acquainted with everything, and who seemed only to want Mr. Morland’s consent, to consider Isabella’s engagement as the most fortunate circumstance imaginable for their family, were allowed to join their counsels, and add their quota of significant looks and mysterious expressions to fill up the measure of curiosity to be raised in the unprivileged younger sisters. To Catherine’s simple feelings, this odd sort of reserve seemed neither kindly meant, nor consistently supported; and its unkindness she would hardly have forborne pointing out, had its inconsistency been less their friend; but Anne and Maria soon set her heart at ease by the sagacity of their “I know what”; and the evening was spent in a sort of war of wit, a display of family ingenuity, on one side in the mystery of an affected secret, on the other of undefined discovery, all equally acute.