How does Jane Austen make the event of chapter 10 so amusing??

To Austen's readers, this chapter was far from amusing. Once Maria and climbed the gate with HEnry, anything could happen between them. If the information got out, Maria would be ruined, just like she is at the end of the book. What's even worse is that she is flirting with Henry and going along with him right in front of her fiance in his own home. In fact, Fanny is the only one who could really escape moral censure. The other groups don't have adult chaperones. Even Edmund and Mary are trangressors showing how Mary affects Edmund for the worse. However they aren't as bad because they are still inside the gardens, as symbol of control and orderliness and are in sight of the house. The wilderness is a symbol of selfishness and wants and uncontrollability. The gate is the barrier between the two. By crossing the gate, Maria and Henry foretell their own later demise.