Did it strike anyone else at the start of Ch. 9 how very childlike Marianne's behaviour was just prior to meeting Willoughby?
She and Margaret were laughing and running around outside. This image in particular seems like such innocent, childlike fun: " they pursued their way against the wind, resisting it with laughing delight". And then of course they can't resist the temptation to run down the hill "with all possible speed" even though they have obviously been told that this is improper for young ladies.
I think it's an interesting juxaposition that we see Marianne at possibly her most childlike literally in the moments before she first meets Willoughby.
And whenever I start musing about Margaret's purpose in the story, it is this scene in particular I recall. Margaret is necessary to make Marianne a middle child and to show her drawn to both being a young lady and a girl. I don't think this aspect of Marianne is as evident when Margaret is left out of adaptations, for example.