" ... but a short one." I wonder how long (or short) this period of exquisite felicity was. Was it just a day or so ---think Mr Darcy and Elizabeth in P&P, where they were "unacknowledged lovers" for 2 days and 1 evening before Mr. Bennet's consent was applied. However Elizabeth "knew rather than felt" herself to be happy. I suppose however that had Mr. Bennet's consent been refused, she may have looked back on that time as exquisite felicity.