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Persuasion - Jane Austen · Persuasion - Jane Austen

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  Persuasion by Jane Austen, Chapter one. Sir Walter Elliot of kellynch Hall in
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  Somersetshire was a man who, for his own amusement never took up any book
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  but the Baronetage. There he found occupation for an idle hour, and consolation
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  in a distressed one. There his faculties were roused into admiration and respect by
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  contemplating the limited remnant of the earliest patents. There, any unwelcome sensations arising
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  from domestic affairs changed naturally into pity and contempt as he turned over the almost
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  endless creations of the last century. And there, if every other leaf were
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  powerless, he could read his own history with an interest which never failed.
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  This was the page at which the favorite volume always opened. Eliot of kellynch
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  Hall Walter Elliot born March first, seventeen sixty married July fifteenth, seventeen eighty
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  four Elizabeth, daughter of James Stephenson, Esquire of south Park in the County
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  of Gloucester, by which lady, who died eighteen hundred, he has issue
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  Elizabeth born June first, seventeen eighty five and born August ninth, seventeen eighty
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  seven, a still born son November fifth, seventeen eighty nine, Mary born
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  November twentieth, seventeen ninety one. Precisely such had the paragraph originally stood from
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  the printer's hands, but Sir Walter had improved it by adding, for the
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  information of himself and his family these words after the date of Mary's birth married
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  December sixteenth, eighteen ten, Charles, son and heir of Charles Musgrove,
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  Esquire of Uppercross in the County of Somerset, and by inserting most accurately the
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  day of the month on which he had lost his wife, then followed the
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  history and rise of the ancient and respectable family in the usual terms, how
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  it had been first settled in Cheshire, how mentioned in Dougdale, serving the
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  office of High Sheriff, representing a borough in three successive parliaments, exertions of
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  loyalty and dignity of baronets in the first year of Charles the second with all
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  the Marys and Elizabeths they had married, forming altogether two handsome duo decimal pages,
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  and concluding with the arms and motto principal seat callynch Hall in the County
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  of Somerset, and Sir Walter's handwriting again in this finale Heir presumptive William Walter
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  Elliot Esquire, great grandson of the second Sir Walter. Vanity was the beginning
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  and the end of Sir Walter Eliot's character, vanity of person and of situation.
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  He had been remarkably handsome in his youth, and at fifty four was
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  still a very fine man. Few women could think more of their personal appearance
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  than he did, nor could the valet of any new made lord be more
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  delighted with the place he held in society. He considered the blessing of beauty
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  as inferior only to the blessing of a baronetcy, and the Sir Walter Elliot,
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  who united these gifts, was the constant object of his warmest respect and
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  devotion. His good looks and his rank had one fair claim on his attachment,
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  since to them he must have owed a wife a very superior character to
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  anything deserved by his own. Lady Eliot had been an excellent woman, sensible
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  and amiable, whose judgment and conduct, if they might be pardoned, the
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  youthful infatuation which made her Lady Eliot, had never required indulgence afterwards she had
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  humor or softened or concealed his failings and promoted his real respectability for seventeen years,
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  and though not the very happiest being in the world herself, had found
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  enough in her duties, her friends, and her children to attach her to
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  life and make it no matter of indifference to her when she was called on
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  to quit them three girls, the two eldest sixteen and fourteen. Was an
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  awful legacy for a mother to bequeath an awful charge rather to confide to the
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  authority and guidance of a conceited, silly father. She had, however,
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  one very intimate friend, a sensible, deserving woman who had been brought by
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  strong attachment to herself to settle close by her in the village of Kellynch,
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  and on her kindness and advice, Lady Elliot mainly relied for the best help
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  and maintenance of the good principles and instruction which she had been anxiously giving her
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  daughter. This friend and Sir Walter did not marry, whatever might have been
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  anticipated on that head by their acquaintance. Thirteen years had passed away since Lady
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  Elliot's death, and they were still near neighbors and intimate friends, and one
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  remained a widower, the other a widow. That Lady Russell, of steady
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  age and character, and extremely well provided for, should have no thought of
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  a second marriage needs no apology to the public, which is rather apt to
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  be unreasonably discontented when a woman does marry again than when she does not.
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  But Sir Walter's continuing in singleness requires explanation. Be it known then that Sir
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  Walter, like a good father, having met with one or two private disappointments
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  in very unreasonable applications, prided himself on remaining single for his dear daughter's sake.
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  For one daughter, his eldest, he would really have given up anything,
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  which she had not been very much tempted to do. Elizabeth had succeeded
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  at sixteen to all that was possible of her mother's rights and consequence, and
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  being very handsome and very like himself, her influence had always been great,
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  and they had gone on together most happily. His two other children were of
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  very inferior value. Mary had acquired a little artificial importance by becoming Missus Charles
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  Musgrove, but Anne, with an elegance of mind and sweetness of character,
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  which must have placed her high with any people of real understanding, was nobody
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  with either father or sister. Her word had no weight, Her convenience was
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  always to give way. She was only Anne to Lady Russell. Indeed,
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  she was a most dear and highly valued god daughter, favorites and friend.
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  Lady Russell loved them all, but it was only in Anne that she she
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  could fancy the mother to revive again. A few years before, Anne Elliot
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  had been a very pretty girl, but her bloom had vanished early, and
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  as even in its height, her father had found little to admire in her.
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  So totally different were her delicate features and mild, dark eyes from his
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  own, there could be nothing in them, now that she was faded and
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  thin to excite his esteem. He had never indulged much hope. He had
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  now none of ever reading her name in any other page of his favorite work.
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  All equality of alliance must rest with Elizabeth. For Mary had merely connected
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  herself with an old country family of respectability and large fortune, and had therefore
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  given all the honor and received none. Elizabeth would one day or other marry
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  suitably. It sometimes happens that a woman is handsomer at twenty nine than she
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  was ten years before, and generally speaking, if there has been neither ill
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  health nor anxiety, it is a time of life at which scarcely any charm
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  is lost. It was so with Elizabeth still the same handsome miss Eliot that
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  she had begun to be thirteen years ago, And Sir Walter might be excused
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  therefore in forgetting her age, or at least be deemed only half a fool
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  for thinking himself and Elizabeth as blooming as ever amidst the wreck of the good
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  looks of everybody else. For he could plainly see how old all the rest
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  of his family and acquaintance were growing. Anne Haggard Merry Coarse, every face
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  in the neighborhood worsting, and the rapid increase of the crow's foot about Lady
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  Russell's temples had long been a distress to him. Elizabeth did not quite equal
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  her father in personal contentment. Thirteen years had seen her mistress of kellynch Hall,
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  presiding and directing with a self possession and decision which could never have given
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  the idea of her being younger than she was for thirteen years had she been
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  doing the honors and laying down the domestic law at home and leading the way
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  to the chaise and fall, and walking immediately after Lady Russell out of all
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  the drawing rooms and dining rooms in the country, thirteen winters revolving frosts had
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  seen her opening every ball of credit which a scanty neighborhood afforded, and thirteen
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  springs shown their blossoms. As she traveled up to London with her father for
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  a few weeks annual enjoyment of the great world, she had the remembrance of
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  all this, she had the consciousness of being nine and twenty to give her
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  some regrets and some apprehensions. She was fully satisfied of being still quite as
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  handsome as ever, But she felt her approach to the years of danger,
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  and would have rejoiced to be certain being properly solicited by Baronet Blood within the
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  next twelvemonth or two, then might she again take up the book of Books
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  with as much enjoyment as in her early youth. But now she liked it
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  not always to be presented with the date of her own birth and see no
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  marriage follow but that of a youngest sister. Made the book an evil at
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  more than once when her father had left it open on the table near her
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  had she closed it with averted eyes and pushed it away. She had had
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  a disappointment moreover, which that book, and especially the history of her own
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  family, must ever present, the remembrance of the heir presumptive, the very
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  William Walter Elliot Esquire, whose rights had been so generously supported by her father,
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  had disappointed her. She had, while a very young girl, as
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  soon as she had known him to be in the event of her having none
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  oh brother, the future baronet, meant to marry him, and her father
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  had always meant that she should. He had not been known to them as
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  a boy. But soon after Lady Eliot's death, Sir Walter had sought the
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  acquaintance, and though his overtures had not been met with any warmth, he
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  had persevered in seeking it, making allowance for the modest drawing back of youth,
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  and in one of their spring excursions to London, when Elizabeth was in
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  her first bloom, mister Elliot had been forced into the introduction. He was
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  at that time a very young man, just engaged in the study of the
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  law, and Elizabeth found him extremely agreeable, and every plan in his favor
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  was confirmed. He was invited to Kellynch Hall. He was talked of and
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  expected all the rest of the year, but he never came. The following
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  spring he was seen again in town, found equally agreeable, again encouraged,
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  invited, unexpected, and again he did not come, And the next tidings
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  were that he was married. Instead of pushing his fortune in the line marked
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  out for the heir of the House of Eliot, he had purchased independence by
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  uniting himself to a rich woman of inferior birth. Sir Walter has resented it.
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  As the head of the house, he felt that he ought to have
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  been consulted, especially after taking the young man so publicly by the hand,
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  for they must be seen together. He observed once at Tattersall's and twice in
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  the lobby of the House of Commons. His disapprobation was expressed, but apparently
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  very little regarded. Mister Elliot had attempted no apology and showed himself as unsolicitous
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  of being longer noticed by the family, as Sir Walter considered him unworthy of
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  it. All acquaintance between them had ceased. This very awkward history of mister
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  Elliot was still after an interval of several years, felt with anger by Elizabeth,
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  who had liked the man for himself, and still more for being her
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  father's heir, and whose strong family pride could see only in him a proper
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  match for Sir Walter Elliott's eldest daughter. There was not a baronet from a
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  to Z whom her feelings could have so willingly acknowledged as an equal. Yet
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  so miserably had he conducted himself, that though she was at this present time,
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  the summer of eighteen fourteen, wearing black ribbons for his wife, she
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  could not admit him to be worth thinking of again. The disgrace of his
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  first marriage might, perhaps, as there was no reason to suppose it,
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  perpetuated by offspring, have been got over, had he not done worse.
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  But he had, as by the accustomary intervention of kind friends they had been
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  informed, spoke in most disrespect, thankfully of them, all, most slightingly
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  and contemptuously, of the very blood he belonged to, and the honors which
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  were hereafter to be his own. This could not be pardoned. Such were
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  Elizabeth Elliott's sentiments and sensations, such the cares to alloy the agitations to vary
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  the sameness and the elegance, the prosperity and the nothingness of her scene of
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  life. Such were the feelings to give interest to a long uneventful residence in
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  one country circle, to fill the vacancies which there were no habits of utility
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  abroad, no talents or accomplishments for home to occupy. But now another occupation
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  and solicitude of mind was beginning to be added to these. Her father was
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  growing distressed for money. She knew that when he now took up the baronetage,
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  it was to drive the heavy bills of his tradespeople, and the unwelcome
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  hints of my men, mister Shepherd, his agent from his thoughts. The
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  Kellynch property was good, but not equal to Sir Walter's apprehension of the state
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  required in its possessor. While Lady Elliot lived there had been method, moderation
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  and economy which had just kept him within his income. But with her had
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  died all such right mindedness, and from that period he had been constantly exceeding
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  it. It had not been possible for him to spend less. He had
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  done nothing but what Sir Walter Elliot was imperiously called on to do. But
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  blameless as he was, he was not only growing dreadfully in debt, but
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  was hearing of it so often that it became vain to attempt concealing it longer,
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  even partially from his daughter. He had given her some hints of it
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  the last spring in town. He had gone so far even as to say,
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  can we retringch Does it cur to you there is any one article in
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  which we can retringe? And Elizabeth, to do her justice, had in
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  the first order a female alarm, set seriously to think what could be done,
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  and had finally proposed these two branches of economy to cut off some unnecessary
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  charities, and to refrain from new furnishing the drawing room, to which expedients
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  she afterwards added the happy thought of their taking no present down to Anne,
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  as had been the usual yearly custom. But these measures, however good in
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  themselves, were insufficient for the real extent of the evil, the whole of
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  which Sir Walter found himself obliged to confess to her soon afterwards. Elizabeth had
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  nothing to propose of deeper efficacy. She felt herself ill used and unfortunate,
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  as did her father, and they were neither of them able to devise any
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  means of lessening their expenses without compromising their dignity or relinquishing their comforts in a
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  way not to be born. There was only a small part of his estate
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  that Sir Walter could dispose of, but had every acre been alienable, it
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  would have made no difference. He had condescended to mortgage as far as he
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  had the power, but he would never condescend to sell. No, he
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  would never disgrace his name. So far the Kllinch estate should be transmitted whole
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  and entire as he had received it. Their two confidential friends, mister Shepherd,
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  who lived in the neighboring market town, and Lady Russell, were called
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  to advise them, and both father and daughter seemed to expect that something should
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  be struck out by one or the other to remove their embarrassments and reduce their
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  expenditure without involving the loss of any indulgence of taste or pride. And of
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  Chapter one of person Persuasion Chapter two of Persuasion. Mister Shepherd, a civil,
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  cautious lawyer, who, whatever might be his hold or his views on
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  Sir Walter, would rather have the disagreeable, prompted by anybody else, excused
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  himself from offering the slightest hint, and only begged leave to recommend an implicit
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  reference to the excellent judgment of Lady Russell, from whose known good sense he
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  fully expected to have just such resolute measures advised, as he meant to see
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  finally adopted. Lady Russell was most anxiously zealous on the subject, and gave
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  it much serious consideration. She was a woman rather of sound than of quick
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  abilities, whose difficulties in coming to any decision in this instance were great from
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  the opposition of two leading principles. She was of strict integrity herself with a
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  delicate sense of honor. But she was as desirous of saving Sir Walter's feelings,
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  as solicitous for the credit of the family, as aristocratic in her ideas
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  of what was due to them, as anybody of sense and honesty could well
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  be. She was a benevolent, charitable, good woman, and capable of
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  strong attachments, most correct in her conduct, strict in her notions of decorum,
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  and with manners that were held a standard of good breeding. She had
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  a cultivated mind, and was generally speaking, rational and consistent, But she
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  had prejudices on the side of ancestry. She had a value for rank and
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  consequence, which blinded her a little to the faults of those who possessed them.
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  Herself, the widow of only a knight, she gave the dignity of
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  a baronet all his due. And Sir Walter, independent of his claim as
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  an old acquaintance, an attentive neighbor, an obliging landlord, the husband of
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  her very dear friend, the father of Anne and her sisters, was as
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  be being Sir Walter, in her apprehension, entitled to a great deal of
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  compassion and consideration. Under his present difficulties, they must retrench. That did
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  not admit of a doubt, but she was very anxious to have it done
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  with the least possible pain to him and Elizabeth. She drew up plans of
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  economy, she made exact calculations, and she did what nobody else thought of
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  doing. She consulted Anne, who never seemed considered by the others as having
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  any interest in the question. She consulted, and in a degree was influenced
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  by her, in marking out the scheme of retrenchment, which was at last
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  submitted to Sir Walter. Every emendation of Anne's had been on the side of
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  honesty against importance. She wanted more vigorous measures, a more complete reformation,
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  a quicker release from debt, a much higher tone of indifference for everything but
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  justice and equality. If we can persuade your father to all this, said
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  Lady Rassele, looking over her paper, much may be done. If he
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  will adopt these regulations in seven years, he will be clear. And I
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  hope we may be able to convince him and Elizabeth that kellynch Hall has a
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  respectability in itself which cannot be affected by these reductions, and that the true
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  dignity of Sir Walter Elliott will be very far from lessened in the eyes of
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  sensible people by acting like a man of principle. What will he be doing,
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  in fact, but what very many of our first families have done or
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  ought to do. There will be nothing singular in his case, and it
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  is singularity which often makes the worst part of our suffering, as it always
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  does of our conduct. I have great hope of prevailing. We must be
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  serious and decided. For after all, the person who has contracted debts must
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  pay them. And though a great deal is due to the feelings of a
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  gentleman and the head of a house like your father, there is still more
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  due to the character of an honest man. This was the principle on which
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  Anne wanted her father to be preceding his friends to be urging him. She
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  considered it as an act of indispensable duty to clear away the claims of creditors
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  with all the expedition which the most comprehensive retrenchments could secure, and saw no
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  dignity in anything short of it. She wanted it to be prescribed and felt
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  as a duty. She rated Lady Russell's influence highly, and as to the
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  severe degree of self denial which her own conscience prompted, she believed there might
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  be little more difficulty in persuading them to a complete than to half a reformation.
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  Her knowledge of her father and Elizabeth inclined her to think that the sacrifice
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  of one pair of horses would be hardly less painful than of both, and
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  so on through the whole list of Lady Russell's two gentle reductions. How Anne's
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  more rigid requisitions might have been taken is of little consequence. Lady Russell's had
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  no success at all, could not be put up with, were not to
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  be borne what every comfort of life knocked off, journeys, London servants,
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  horses, table, contractions and restrictions everywhere to live no longer with the decencies,
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  even of a private gentleman. No, he would sooner quit Kellynch Hall
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  at once than remain in it on such disgraceful terms. Quit Kellynch Hall.
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  The hint was immediately taken up by mister Shepherd, whose interest was involved in
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  the reality of Sir Walter's retrenching, and who was perfectly persuaded that nothing would
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  be done without a change of abode. Since the idea had been started in
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  the very quarter which ought to dictate, he had no scruple, he said,
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  in confessing his judgment to be entirely on that side. It did not
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  appear to him that Sir Walter could materially alter his style of living in the
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  house which had such a character of hospitality and ancient dignity to support. In
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  any other place, Sir Walter might judge for himself, and would be looked
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  up to as regulating the modes of life in whatever way he might choose to
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  model his household Sir Walter would quit Kellynch Hall, and after a very few
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  days more of doubt and indecision, the great question of whither he should go
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  was settled, and the first outline of this important change made out. There
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  had been three alternatives, London, Bath, or another house in the country.
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  All Anne's wishes had been for the latter, a small house in their
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  own neighborhood, where they might still have Lady Russell's society, still be near
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  Mary, and still have the pleasure of some time seeing the lawns and groves
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  of Kellynch was the object of her ambition, But the usual fate of Anne
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  attended her in having something very opposite from her her inclination fixed on. She
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  disliked Bath and did not think it agreed with her, and Bath was to
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  be her home. Sir Walter had first thought more of London, but mister
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  Shepherd felt that he could not be trusted in London, and had been skillful
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  enough to dissuade him from it and make Bath preferred. It was a much
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  safer place for a gentleman in his predicament. He might there be important at
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  comparatively little expense. Two material advantages of Bath over London had of course been
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  given all their weight, its more convenient distance from Kellynch only fifty miles,
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  and Lady Russell's spending some part of every winter there, And to the very
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  great satisfaction of Lady Russell, whose first views on the projected change had been
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  for Bath, Sir Walter and Elizabeth were induced to believe that they should lose
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  neither consequence nor enjoyment by settling there. Lady Russell felt obliged to a pose
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  her dear Anne's known wishes. It would be too much to expect Sir Walter
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  to descend into a small house in his own neighborhood. Anne herself would have
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  found the mortifications of it more than she foresaw, and to Sir Walter's feelings
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  they must have been dreadful. And with regard to Anne's dislike of Bath,
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  she considered it as a prejudice and mistake, arising first from the circumstance of
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  her having been three years at school there after her mother's death, and secondly
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  from her happening to be not in perfectly good spirits the only winter which she
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  had afterwards spent there with herself. Lady Russell was fond of bath in short
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  and disposed to think it must suit them all. And as to her young
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  friend's health, by passing all the warm months with her at Kellynch Lodge,
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  every danger would be avoided. And it was in fact a change which must
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  do both health and spirits good. Anne had when too little from home,
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  too little seen, her spirits were not high. A larger society would improve
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  them. She wanted her to be more known. The undesirableness of any other
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  house in the same neighborhood, for Sir Walter was certainly much strengthened by one
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  part, and a very material part of the scheme which had been happily engrafted
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  on the beginning. He was not only to quit his home, but to
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  see it in the hands of others, a trial of fortitude which stronger heads
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  than Sir Walter's have found too much. Kellynch Hall was to be let.
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  This, however, was a profound secret, not to be breathed beyond their
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  own circle. Sir Walter could not have borne the degradation of being known to
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  design letting his house. Mister Shepherd had once mentioned the word advertise, but
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  never dared approach it again. Sir Walter spurned the idea of its being offered
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  in any manner forbad, the slightest hint being dropped of his having such an
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  intention, And it was only on the supposition of his being spontaneously solicited by
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  some most unexceptionable applicant on his own terms and as a great favor, that
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  he would let it at all. How quick come the reasons for approving what
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  we like, Lady Russell had another excellent one at hand, for being extremely
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  glad that Sir Walter and his family were to remove from the country. Elizabeth
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  had been lately forming an intimacy which she wished to see interrupted. It was
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  with the daughter of mister Shepherd, who had returned after an unprosperous marriage to
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  her father's house with the additional burden of two children. She was a clever
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  young woman who understood the art of pleasing, the art of pleasing, at
• 28:53
  least at kellynch Hall, and who had made herself so acceptable to Miss Elliot
• 28:59
  as to have been already staying there more than once. In spite of all
• 29:03
  that, Lady Russell, who thought it a friendship quite out of place,
• 29:06
  could hint of caution and reserve Lady Russell indeed had scarcely any influence with Elizabeth,
• 29:12
  and seemed to love her rather because she would love her than because Elizabeth
• 29:18
  deserved it. She had never received from her more than outward attention, nothing
• 29:23
  beyond the observances of complaisance, had never succeeded in any point which she wanted
• 29:29
  to carry against previous inclination. She had been repeatedly very earnest in trying to
• 29:34
  get Anne included in the visit to London, sensibly open to all the injustice
• 29:40
  and all the discredit of the selfish arrangements which shut her out, and on
• 29:44
  many lesser occasions, had endeavored to give Elizabeth the advantage of her own better
• 29:48
  judgment and experience, But always in vain Elizabeth would go her own way,
• 29:56
  and never had she pursued it in more decided opposition to life Lady Russell than
• 30:00
  in this selection of missus Clay, turning from the society of so deserving a
• 30:06
  sister to bestow her affection and confidence on one who ought to have been nothing
• 30:11
  to her but the object of distant civility from situation. Missus Clay was,
• 30:18
  in Lady Russell's estimate, a very unequal and in her character she believed a
• 30:22
  very dangerous companion, and a removal that would leave missus Clay behind and bring
• 30:27
  a choice of more suitable intimates within miss Elliot's reach was therefore an object of
• 30:33
  first rate importance. End of Chapter two of Persuasion. Chapter three of Persuasion.
• 30:44
  I must take leave to observe Sir Walter, said mister Shepherd one morning
• 30:48
  at Kellynch Hall, as he laid down the newspaper, that the present juncture
• 30:52
  is much in our favor. This piece will be turning all our rich naval
• 30:57
  officers ashore. They will be all wanting a home. Could not be a
• 31:03
  better time, Sir Walter, for having a choice of tenants, very responsible
• 31:07
  tenants. Many a noble fortune has been made during the war. If a
• 31:11
  rich admiral were to come our way, Sir Walter, he would be a
• 31:15
  very lucky bad Shipherd replied, Sir Walter. That's all I have to remark.
• 31:21
  A prize, indeed, would Killynch hold be to him, rather the
• 31:25
  greatest prize of earl let him have taken so many before his shepherd. Mister
• 31:30
  Shepherd laughed as he knew he must at this wit, and then added,
• 31:36
  I presume to observe, Sir Walter, that in the way of business,
• 31:40
  gentlemen of the Navy are well to deal with. I have had some little
• 31:45
  knowledge of their methods of doing business, and I am free to confess that
• 31:48
  they have very liberal notions and are as likely to make desirable tenants as any
• 31:53
  set of people one should meet with. Therefore, Sir Walter, what I
• 31:59
  would take leave to say suggest is that, if in consequence of any rumors
• 32:02
  getting abroad of your intention, which must be contemplated as a possible thing,
• 32:07
  because we know how difficult it is to keep the actions and designs of one
• 32:12
  part of the world from the noticing curiosity of the other, consequence has its
• 32:16
  tax. I John Shepherd might conceal any family matters that I choose, for
• 32:23
  no one would think it worth their while to observe me. But Sir Walter
• 32:28
  Elliott has eyes upon him which it may be very difficult to elude, And
• 32:32
  therefore thus much I venture upon that it will not greatly surprise me if,
• 32:38
  with all our caution, some rumor of the truth should get abroad, in
• 32:44
  the supposition of which, as I was going to observe, Since applications will
• 32:47
  unquestionably follow I should think any from our wealthy naval commanders particularly worth attending to,
• 32:54
  and beg leave to add that two hours will bring me over at any
• 32:59
  time, to save you the trouble of replying. Sir Walter only nodded,
• 33:04
  but soon afterwards, rising and pacing the room, he observed sarcastically, that
• 33:09
  are few among the gentlemen of the navy, I imagine who would not be
• 33:13
  surprised to fade themselves in a house of this description. They would look around
• 33:17
  them no doubt, and bless their good fortune, said missus Clay. For
• 33:22
  missus Clay was present, her father had driven her over, nothing being of
• 33:28
  so much use to missus Clay's health as a drive to Kellynch. But I
• 33:31
  quite agree with my father in thinking a sailor might be a very desirable tenant.
• 33:37
  I have known a good deal of the profession, and besides their liberality,
• 33:40
  they are so neat and careful in all their ways. These valuable pictures
• 33:45
  of yours, Sir Walter, if you chose to leave them, would be
• 33:47
  perfectly safe. Everything in and about the house would be taken such excellent care
• 33:52
  of the gardens and shrubberies would be kept in almost as high order as they
• 33:58
  are now. You need not be afraid, miss Elliot, of your own
• 34:01
  sweet flower gardens being neglected. As to all that rejoined, Sir Walter coolly,
• 34:07
  supposing I were induced to let my house, I have by no means
• 34:13
  made up my mind as to the privileges to be annexed to it. I
• 34:16
  am not particularly disposed to favor a tenant. The park would be opened to
• 34:22
  him, of course, and few navy officers or men of any other description
• 34:27
  can have had such a range. But what restrictions I might impose on the
• 34:31
  use of the pleasure grounds is another thing. I'm not fond of the idea
• 34:37
  of my shrubberies being always approachable, and I should recommend Miss Eliot to be
• 34:42
  on her guard with respect to her flower garden. I have very little disposed
• 34:46
  to grant a tenant of Kellynch Hall any extraordinary favor. I assure you be
• 34:52
  he sailor or soldier. After a short pause, mister Shaperd presumed to say,
• 34:59
  in all these cases there are established usages which make everything plain and easy
• 35:04
  between landlord and tenant. Your interest, Sir Walter, is in pretty safe
• 35:08
  hands. Depend upon me for taking care that no tenant has more than his
• 35:14
  just rights. I venture to hint that Sir Walter Elliot cannot be half so
• 35:19
  jealous for his own as John Shepherd will be for him. Here and spoke
• 35:24
  the Navy, I think, who have done so much for us, have
• 35:28
  at least an equal claim with any other set of men for all the comforts
• 35:31
  and all the privileges which any home can give. Sailors work hard enough for
• 35:36
  their comforts. We must all allow very true, very true. What miss
• 35:42
  Ann says is very true was mister Shepherd's rejoinder, and oh certainly was his
• 35:50
  daughter's. But Sir Walter's remark was soon afterwards. The profession has its utility,
• 35:55
  but I should be sullry to see any friend of mine belonging to it.
• 36:00
  Indeed was the reply, and with a look of surprise. Yes,
• 36:07
  it is in two points offensive to me. I have two strong grounds of
• 36:12
  objection to it, first as being the means of bringing parsons of obscure birth
• 36:16
  into undue distinction and raising men to honors which their fathers and grandfathers never dreamed
• 36:22
  of, And secondly, as it cuts up a man's youth and vigor.
• 36:27
  Most horribly. A sailor grows old sooner than any other man. I have
• 36:32
  observed it all my life. A man is in greater danger in the navy
• 36:37
  of being insulted by the rise of one whose father his father might have disdained
• 36:42
  to speak to, and of being prematurely an object of disgust himself than in
• 36:47
  any other line. One day last spring in town, I was in company
• 36:52
  with two men striking instances of what I am talking of, Lord Saint Ives,
• 36:58
  whose father we all know to being a country curate without bread to eat.
• 37:02
  I was to give place to Lord Saint Ives and a certain Admiral Baldwin,
• 37:07
  the most deplorable looking personage you can imagine, his face the color of
• 37:13
  mahogany, rough and rugged to the last degree, all lines and wrinkles,
• 37:19
  nine gray hairs are aside, and nothing but a dab of powder up top.
• 37:22
  From the name of Heaven. Who is that, old fellow, said
• 37:25
  I to a friend of mine who is standing near Sir Basil Morley. Old
• 37:30
  fellow cried, Sir Basil, it is Admiral Baldwin. What do you take
• 37:35
  his age to be? Sixty? Said I, or perhaps sixty two forty,
• 37:40
  replied Sir Basil forty and no more picture to yourselves my amazement. I
• 37:46
  shall not easily forget Admiral Baldwin. I never saw quite so wretched an example
• 37:52
  of what a seafaring life can do. But a due degree I know it.
• 37:58
  It's the same with them all. They are all knocked about and exposed
• 38:01
  to every climate and every weather, till they are not fit to be seen.
• 38:07
  It is a pity they are not knocked on the head at once before
• 38:09
  they reach Admiral Boldman's age. Nay, Sir Walter, cried missus Clay,
• 38:15
  this is being severe. Indeed, have a little mercy on the poor men.
• 38:20
  We are not all born to be handsome. The sea is no beautifier.
• 38:23
  Certainly, sailors do grow old betimes, I have observed it. They
• 38:29
  soon lose the look of youth. But then is not it the same with
• 38:32
  many other professions. Perhaps most other soldiers in active service are not at all
• 38:38
  better off. And even in the quieter professions there is a toil and a
• 38:42
  labor of the mind, if not of the body, which seldom leaves a
• 38:45
  man's looks to the natural effect of time. The lawyer plods quite careworn,
• 38:51
  the physician is up at all hours and traveling in all weather, and even
• 38:54
  the clergymen. She stopped a moment to consider what might do for the clergyman.
• 39:00
  And even the clergyman, you know, is obliged to go into infected
• 39:04
  rooms and exposes health and looks to all the injury of a poisonous atmosphere.
• 39:08
  In fact, as I have long been convinced, though every profession is necessary
• 39:14
  and honorable in its turn, it is only the lot of those who are
• 39:16
  not obliged to follow any who can live in a regular way in the country,
• 39:22
  choosing their own hours, following their own pursuits, and living on their
• 39:25
  own property without the torment of trying for more. It is only their lot,
• 39:30
  I say, to hold the blessings of health and good appearance to the
• 39:34
  utmost. I know no other set of men, but what lose something of
• 39:37
  their personableness when they cease to be quite young. It seemed as if mister
• 39:44
  Shepherd, in this anxiety to bespeak Sir Walter's good will towards a naval officer
• 39:49
  as tenant, had been gifted with foresight, for the very first application for
• 39:54
  the house was from an Admiral Croft, with whom he shortly afterwards fell into
• 40:00
  company in attending the quarter sessions at Taunton, and indeed he had received a
• 40:04
  hint of the admiral from a London correspondent by the report which he hastened over
• 40:08
  to Kellynch to make. Admiral Croft was a native of Somersetshire, who,
• 40:14
  having acquired a very handsome fortune, was wishing to settle in his own country,
• 40:19
  and had come down to Taunton in order to look at some advertised places
• 40:22
  in that immediate neighborhood, which however, had not suited him. That accidentally
• 40:28
  hearing it was just as he had foretold, mister Shepherd observed Sir Walter's concerns
• 40:34
  could not be kept a secret. Accidentally hearing of the possibility of Kellynch Hall
• 40:38
  being to let, and understanding his mister Shepherd's connection with the owner, he
• 40:44
  had introduced himself to him in order to make particular inquiries, and had,
• 40:49
  in the course of a pretty long conference, expressed as strong an inclination for
• 40:52
  the place as a man who knew it only by description could feel, and
• 40:57
  given mister Shepherd, in his explicit account of himself, every proof of his
• 41:01
  being a most responsible eligible tenant and who is Admiral Croft? Was Sir Walter's
• 41:08
  cold, suspicious inquiry. Mister Shepherd answered for his being of a gentleman's family,
• 41:15
  and mentioned the place and Anne. After the little pause which followed,
• 41:20
  added his rear, Admiral of the White. He was in the Trafalgar Action
• 41:24
  and has been in the East Indies since he was stationed there, I believe
• 41:29
  several years. The nat he had for granted. Observed Sir Walter that his
• 41:35
  face is about as orange as the cuffs, and keeps in my livery.
• 41:38
  Mister Shepherd hastened to assure him that Admiral Croft was a very hale, hearty,
• 41:45
  well looking man, a little weather beaten, to be sure, but
• 41:49
  not much, and quite the gentleman in all his notions and behavior, not
• 41:53
  likely to make the smallest difficulty about terms. Only wanted a comfortable home and
• 41:59
  to get into it as soon as possible. Knew he must pay for his
• 42:01
  convenience. Knew what rent a ready furnished house of that consequence might fetch.
• 42:07
  Should not have been surprised if Sir Walter had asked more, had inquired about
• 42:12
  the manner, would be glad of the deputation, certainly, but made no
• 42:15
  great point of it, said he sometimes took out a gun, but never
• 42:20
  killed quite the gentleman. Mister Shepherd was eloquent on the subject, pointing out
• 42:27
  all the circumstances of the Admiral's family which made him peculiarly desirable as a tenant.
• 42:31
  He was a married man, and without children, the very state to
• 42:37
  be wished for a house was never taken good care of, mister Shepherd observed.
• 42:42
  Without a lady, he did not know whether furniture might not be in
• 42:45
  danger of suffering as much where there was no lady as where there were many
• 42:50
  children. A lady without a family was the very best preserver of furniture in
• 42:55
  the world. He had seen missus Croft too. She was at Taunton with
• 43:00
  the Admiral and had been present almost all the time they were talking the matter
• 43:04
  over. And a very well spoken, genteel shrewd lady. She seemed to
• 43:08
  be continued d asked more questions about the house and terms and taxes than the
• 43:16
  Admiral himself, and seemed more conversant with business. And moreover, Sir Walter,
• 43:22
  I found she was not quite unconnected in this country any more than her
• 43:27
  husband, that is to say she is sister to a gentleman who did live
• 43:31
  amongst us. Once she told me so herself, sister to the gentleman who
• 43:36
  lived a few years back at Monkford. Bless me, what was his name?
• 43:42
  At this moment I cannot recollect his name, though I have heard it
• 43:45
  so lately. Penelope, my dear, can you help me to the name
• 43:50
  of the gentleman who lived at Monkford Missus Croft's brother. But Missus Clay was
• 43:54
  talking so eagerly with Miss Elliot that she did not hear the appeal. I
• 44:00
  have no conshiption whom you can mean, Shepherd. I remember no jentlemen resident
• 44:05
  at Monkford since the time of old Governor Trent. Bless me, how very
• 44:09
  odd I shall forget my own name soon. I suppose a name that I
• 44:15
  am so very well acquainted with. Knew the gentleman so well by sight seeing
• 44:20
  him a hundred times, came to consult me once. I remember, oh
• 44:24
  about a trespass of one of his neighbors, farmer's man breaking into his orchard,
• 44:30
  wall torn down, apple stolen, caught in the act, and afterwards,
• 44:34
  contrary to my judgment, submitted to an amicable compromise. Very odd.
• 44:38
  Indeed, after waiting another moment, You mean mister Wentworth, I suppose,
• 44:45
  said Dan. Mister Shepherd was all gratitude. Wentworth was the very name.
• 44:52
  Mister Wentworth was the very man. He had the curacy of Monkford, you
• 44:58
  know, Sir Walter, some time back, for two or three years,
• 45:01
  came there about the year five. I take it you remember em. I'm
• 45:06
  sure Wentworth. Oh I, mister Wentworth, the curate of Monkford. You
• 45:14
  misled me by the term a gentleman. I thought you were speaking of some
• 45:17
  man of property. Mister Wentworth was nobody, I remember, quite unconnected,
• 45:23
  nothing to do with the Strefford family. When once a the names of many
• 45:27
  of our nobility become so common, as mister Shepherd perceived that this connection of
• 45:34
  the crafts did them no service. With Sir Walter, he mentioned it no
• 45:37
  more, returning with all his zeal to dwell on the circumstances more indisputably in
• 45:44
  their favor, their age and number and fortune. The high idea they had
• 45:49
  formed of College Hall an extreme solicitude for the advantage of renting it, making
• 45:53
  it appear as if they ranked nothing beyond the happiness of being the tenants of
• 45:58
  Sir Walter Elliott an extraordinary taste, certainly could they have been supposed in the
• 46:02
  secret of Sir Walter's estimate of the dues of a tenant. It succeeded,
• 46:08
  however, and though Sir Walter must ever look with an evil eye on anyone
• 46:14
  intending to inhabit that house and think them infinitely too well off in being permitted
• 46:19
  to rent it on the highest terms, he was talked into allowing mister Shepherd
• 46:22
  to proceed in the treaty and authorizing him to wait on Admiral Croft, who
• 46:28
  still remained at Taunton, and fix a day for the house being seen.
• 46:34
  Sir Walter was not very wise, but still he had experience enough of the
• 46:38
  world to feel that a more unobjectionable tenant in all essentials than Admiral Croft bid
• 46:45
  fair to be, could hardly offer. So far went his understanding, and
• 46:52
  his vanity supplied a little additional soothing in the Admiral's situation in life, which
• 46:57
  was just high enough. And not do I I've at my house to Admiral
• 47:01
  Croft, which sound extremely well, very much better than to any mere mister
• 47:09
  a mister save perhaps some half dozen in the nation always needs a note of
• 47:15
  explanation, and admiral speaks his own consequence, And at the same time could
• 47:21
  never make a baronet look small. In all their dealings and intercourse, Sir
• 47:27
  Walter Elliott must ever have the precedence. Nothing could be done without a reference
• 47:32
  to Elizabeth. But her inclination was growing so strong for a removal that she
• 47:38
  was happy to have it fixed and expedited by a tenant at hand, and
• 47:43
  not a word to suspend decision was uttered by her. Mister Shepherd was completely
• 47:50
  empowered to act, and no sooner had such an end been breached than Anne,
• 47:54
  who had been a most attentive listener to the whole, left the room
• 47:59
  to seek the comfort of cool air for her flushed cheeks, And as she
• 48:04
  walked along a favorite grove, said, with a gentle sigh, a few
• 48:09
  months more, and he perhaps may be walking here, And of chapter three
• 48:16
  of Persuasion Chapter four of Persuasion, he was not. Mister Wentworth, the
• 48:23
  former Curate of Munkford, however suspicious appearances may be, But a Captain Frederick
• 48:30
  Wentworth, his brother who being made commander in consequence of the action of Santo
• 48:35
  Domingo and not immediately employed. Had come into Somersetshire in the summer of eighteen
• 48:40
  o six, and, having no parent living, found a home for half
• 48:45
  a year at Mungford. He was at the time a remarkably fine young man,
• 48:51
  with a great deal of intelligence, spirit and brilliancy, and Anne an
• 48:54
  extremely pretty girl with gentleness, modesty, taste and feeling. Half the sum
• 49:00
  of attraction on either side might have been enough, for he had nothing to
• 49:05
  do, and she had hardly anybody to love. But the encounter of such
• 49:09
  lavish recommendations could not fail. They were gradually acquainted, and when acquainted,
• 49:15
  rapidly and deeply in love. It would be difficult to say which had seen
• 49:22
  highest perfection in the other, or which had been the happiest she in receiving
• 49:27
  his declarations and proposals, or he in having them accepted. A short period
• 49:34
  of exquisite felicity followed, and but a short one. Troubles soon arose.
• 49:39
  Sir Walter, on being applied to without actually withholding his consent or saying that
• 49:45
  it should never be gave it all the negative of great astonishment, great coldness,
• 49:52
  great silence, and a professed resolution of doing nothing for his daughter,
• 49:57
  he thought it of very degrading a li and Lady Russell, though with more
• 50:01
  tempered and pardonable pride, received it as a most unfortunate one. Anne Elliott,
• 50:09
  with all her claims of birth, beauty and mind, to throw herself
• 50:14
  away at nineteen involve herself at nineteen in an engagement with a young man who
• 50:20
  had nothing but himself to recommend him, and no hopes of attaining affluence,
• 50:23
  but in the chances of a most uncertain profession, and no connections to secure
• 50:29
  even his father rise in the profession would be indeed a throwing away, which
• 50:35
  she grieved to think of an eliot so young, known to so few,
• 50:40
  to be snatched off by a stranger without alliance or fortune, or rather sunk
• 50:45
  by him into a state of most wearing, anxious, youth killing dependence.
• 50:51
  It must not be if, by any fair interference of friendship, any representations
• 50:57
  from one who had almost a mother's love and mother rights, it would be
• 51:00
  prevented. Captain Wentworth had no fortune. He had been lucky in his profession,
• 51:07
  but spending freely what had come freely, had realized nothing. But he
• 51:14
  was confident that he should soon be rich, full of life and ardor.
• 51:17
  He knew that he would soon have a ship, and soon be on a
• 51:21
  station that would lead to everything he wanted. He had always been lucky,
• 51:25
  and he knew he should be so. Still. Such confidence, powerful in
• 51:30
  its warmth, and bewitching in the wit which often expressed it, must have
• 51:35
  been enough for Anne. But Lady Russell saw it very differently. His sanguine
• 51:40
  temper and fearlessness of mind operated very differently on her. She saw in it
• 51:46
  but an aggravation of the evil. It only added a dangerous character to himself.
• 51:52
  He was brilliant, he was headstrong. Lady Russell had little taste for
• 51:57
  wit, and of anything approaching to imprudence a horror. She deprecated the connection
• 52:04
  in every light. Such opposition as these feelings produced was more than Anne could
• 52:09
  combat. Young and gentle as she was, it might yet have been possible
• 52:15
  to withstand her father's ill will, though unsoftened by one kind word or look
• 52:20
  on the part of her sister. But Lady Russell, whom she had always
• 52:23
  loved and relied on, could not, with such steadiness of opinion and such
• 52:28
  tenderness of manner, be continually advising her in vain. She was persuaded to
• 52:35
  believe the engagement of wrong thing, indiscreet, improper, hardly capable of success
• 52:42
  at not deserving it. But it was not a merely selfish caution under which
• 52:46
  she acted in putting an end to it. Had she not imagined herself consulting
• 52:52
  his good even more than her own, she could hardly have given him up.
• 52:57
  The belief of being prudent and self den de nighing principally for his advantage
• 53:01
  was her chief consolation under the misery of a parting, a final parting,
• 53:07
  and every consolation was required, for she had to encounter all the additional pain
• 53:14
  of opinions on his side totally unconvinced and unbending, and of his feeling himself
• 53:20
  ill used by so forced a relinquishment. He had left the country in consequence.
• 53:27
  A few months had seen the beginning and the end of their acquaintance,
• 53:31
  But not with a few months ended Anne's share of suffering from it. Her
• 53:36
  attachment and regrets had for a long time clouded every enjoyment of youth, and
• 53:42
  an early loss of bloom and spirits had been their lasting effect. More than
• 53:47
  seven years were gone since this little history of sorrowful interest had reached its close,
• 53:53
  and time had softened down much, perhaps nearly all, of peculiar attachment
• 54:00
  of him. But she had been too dependent on time alone. No aid
• 54:04
  had been given in change of place, except in one visit to Bath soon
• 54:08
  after the rupture, or in any novelty or enlargement of society. No one
• 54:14
  had ever come within the Kellynch circle who could bear a comparison with Frederick Wentworth
• 54:20
  as he stood in her memory. No second attachment, the only thoroughly natural,
• 54:25
  happy and sufficient cure at her time of life, had been possible to
• 54:30
  the nice tone of her mind, the fastidiousness of her taste in the small
• 54:34
  limits of the society around them. She had been solicited, when about two
• 54:38
  and twenty, to change her name by a young man who had not long
• 54:43
  afterwards found a more willing mind in her younger sister, and Lady Russell had
• 54:47
  lamented her refusal, for Charles Musgrove was the eldest son of a man whose
• 54:53
  landed property and general importance were second in that country only to Sir Walters,
• 55:00
  and of good character and appearance, And however Lady Russell might have asked yet
• 55:04
  for something more. While Anne was nineteen, she would have rejoiced to see
• 55:08
  her at twenty two, so respectably removed from the partialities and injustice of her
• 55:15
  father's house, and settled so permanently near herself. But in this case Anne
• 55:21
  had left nothing for advice to do, and though Lady Russell, as satisfied
• 55:25
  as ever with her own discretion, never wished to pass undone, she began
• 55:30
  now to have the anxiety which borders on hopelessness, for Anne's being tempted by
• 55:36
  some man of talents and independence to enter a state for which she held her
• 55:39
  to be peculiarly fitted by her warm affections and domestic habits. They knew not
• 55:46
  each other's opinion, either its constancy or its change. On the one leading
• 55:52
  point of Anne's conduct, for the subject was never alluded to. But Anne,
• 55:57
  at seven and twenty thought very, very differently from what she had been
• 56:00
  made to think at nineteen. She did not blame Lady Russell, nor did
• 56:06
  she blame herself for having been guided by her. But she felt that were
• 56:09
  any young person in similar circumstances to apply to her for counsel, they would
• 56:15
  never receive any of such certain immediate wretchedness, such uncertain future good. She
• 56:22
  was persuaded that under every disadvantage of disapprobation at home, and every anxiety attending
• 56:29
  his profession, all their probable fears, delays, and disappointments, she should
• 56:35
  yet have been a happier woman in maintaining the engagement than she had been in
• 56:39
  the sacrifice of it, And this she fully believed had the usual share,
• 56:45
  had even more than the usual share of all such solicitudes and suspense been theirs,
• 56:51
  without reference to the actual results of their case, which, as it
• 56:54
  happened, would have bestowed earlier prosperity than could be reasonably coated. On all
• 57:01
  his sanguine expectations, all his confidence had been justified. His genius and ardor
• 57:08
  had seemed to foresee and to command his prosperous path. He had, very
• 57:14
  soon after their engagement ceased, got employ and all that he had told her
• 57:19
  would follow had taken place. He had distinguished himself and early gained the other
• 57:24
  step in rank, and must now by successive captures, have made a handsome
• 57:30
  fortune. She had only navy lists and newspapers for her authority, but she
• 57:36
  could not doubt his being rich, and in favor of his constancy, she
• 57:39
  had no reason to believe him married. How eloquent could Anne Elliott have been.
• 57:46
  How eloquent at least were her wishes on the side of early, warm
• 57:50
  attachment and a cheerful confidence in futurity against that over anxious caution which seems to
• 57:57
  insult exertion and distrust providence. She had been forced into prudence in her youth,
• 58:04
  she learned romance as she grew older, the natural sequel of an unnatural
• 58:08
  beginning. With all these circumstances, recollections and feelings, she could not hear
• 58:15
  that Captain Wentworth's sister was likely to live at Kellynch without a revival of former
• 58:21
  pain, and many a stroll and many a sigh were necessary to dispel the
• 58:27
  agitation of the idea. She often told herself. It was farley before she
• 58:32
  could harden her nerves sufficiently to feel the continual discussion of the Crofts and their
• 58:37
  business no evil. She was assisted, however, by that perfect indifference and
• 58:44
  apparent unconsciousness among the only three of her own friends in the secret of the
• 58:47
  past, which seemed almost to deny any recollection of it. She could do
• 58:53
  justice to the superiority of Lady Russell's motives in this over those of her father
• 58:58
  and Elizabeth. She could honor all the better feelings of her calmness, but
• 59:02
  the general air of oblivion among them was highly important from whatever it sprung,
• 59:08
  And in the event of Admiral Croft's really taking kellynch Hall, she rejoiced anew
• 59:14
  over the conviction which had always been most grateful to her of the past,
• 59:19
  being known to those three only among her connections, by whom no syllable she
• 59:23
  believed would ever be whispered, and in the trust that among his the brother
• 59:30
  only with whom he had been residing, had received any information of their short
• 59:34
  lived engagement. That brother had been long removed from the country, and being
• 59:38
  a sensible man and moreover a single man at the time, she had a
• 59:43
  fond dependence on no human creatures having heard it from him. The sister,
• 59:49
  missus Croft, had been out of England accompanying her husband on a foreign station,
• 59:53
  and her own sister Mary, had been at school while it occurred,
• 59:57
  and never admitted, by the pride of some and the delicacy of others,
• 1:00:01
  to the smallest knowledge of it. Afterwards, with these supports, she hoped
• 1:00:07
  that the acquaintance between herself and the Crofts which with Lady Russell still resident in
• 1:00:13
  Kellynch and Mary fixed only three miles off, must be anticipated, need not
• 1:00:17
  involve any particular awkwardness. End of Chapter four of Persuasion, Chapter five of
• 1:00:28
  Persuasion. On the morning appointed for Admiral and missus Croft's seeing callynch Hall,
• 1:00:32
  Anne found it most natural to take her almost daily walk to Lady Russell's and
• 1:00:37
  keep out of the way till all was over, when she found it most
• 1:00:42
  natural to be sorry that she had missed the opportunity of seeing them. This
• 1:00:46
  meaning of the two parties proved highly satisfactory and decided the whole business at once.
• 1:00:52
  Each lady was previously well disposed for an agreement, and saw nothing therefore
• 1:00:57
  but good manners in the other. With regard to the gentleman, there was
• 1:01:01
  such an hearty, good humor, such an open trusting liberality on the Admiral's
• 1:01:06
  side, as could not but influence Sir Walter, who had besides been flattered
• 1:01:10
  into his very best and most polished behavior by mister Shepherd's assurances of his being
• 1:01:15
  known by report to the Admiral as a model of good breeding. The house
• 1:01:22
  and grounds and furniture were approved the crofts were approved terms time, Everything and
• 1:01:28
  everybody was right, and mister Shepherd's clerks were set to work without there having
• 1:01:34
  been a single preliminary difference to modify of all that disindenture showeth. Sir Walter,
• 1:01:38
  without hesitation, declared the Admiral to be the best looking sailor he had
• 1:01:44
  ever met with, and went so far as to say that if his own
• 1:01:47
  man might have had the arranging of his hair, he should not be ashamed
• 1:01:52
  of being seen with him anywhere. And the Admiral, with sympathetic cordiality,
• 1:01:57
  observed to his wife as they drove back through the park, I thought we
• 1:02:00
  should soon come to a deal, my dear, in spite of what they
• 1:02:05
  told us, said Taunton. The baronet will never set the Thames on fire,
• 1:02:08
  but there seems to be no harm in him reciprocal compliments, which would
• 1:02:15
  have been esteemed about equal. The crofts were to have possession at Michelmas,
• 1:02:20
  and as Sir Walter proposed moving to Bath in the course of the preceding month,
• 1:02:23
  there was no time to be lost in making every dependent arrangement. Lady
• 1:02:29
  Russell convinced that Anne would not be allowed to be of any use or any
• 1:02:34
  importance in the choice of the house which they were going to secure, was
• 1:02:37
  very unwilling to have her hurried away so soon, and wanted to make it
• 1:02:40
  possible for her to stay behind till she might convey her to Bath herself after
• 1:02:45
  Christmas. But having engagements of her own which must take her from Kellynch for
• 1:02:51
  several weeks, she was unable to give the full invitation she wished, And
• 1:02:54
  Anne, though dreading the possible heats of September in all the white glare of
• 1:02:59
  Bath, and grieving to forego all the influence so sweet and so sad of
• 1:03:04
  the autumnal months in the country, did not think that everything considered, she
• 1:03:08
  wished to remain it would be most right and most wise, and therefore must
• 1:03:14
  involve least suffering to go with the others. Something occurred, however, to
• 1:03:20
  give her a different duty. Mary, often a little unwell, and always
• 1:03:24
  thinking a great deal of her own complaints, and always in the habit of
• 1:03:28
  claiming Anne when anything was the matter was indisposed, and foreseeing that she should
• 1:03:34
  not have a day's health or the autumn entreated or rather required her for it
• 1:03:38
  was hardly entreaty to come to Upper Cross Cottage and bear her company as long
• 1:03:45
  as she would want her instead of going to Bath. I cannot possibly do
• 1:03:49
  without Anne, was Mary's reasoning, and Elizabeth's reply was that I am sure
• 1:03:53
  Anne had better stay, for nobody will want her in Bath. To be
• 1:03:58
  claimed as a good though in an improper style, is at least better than
• 1:04:02
  being rejected as no good at all. And Anne glad to be thought of
• 1:04:06
  some use, glad to have anything marked out as a duty, and certainly
• 1:04:12
  not sorry to have the scene of it in the country, and her own
• 1:04:15
  dear country readily agreed to stay. This invitation of Mary's removed all Lady Russell's
• 1:04:21
  difficulties, and it was consequently soon settled that Anne should not go to Bath
• 1:04:27
  till Lady Russell took her, and that all the intervening time should be divided
• 1:04:30
  between Upper Cross Cottage and Kellynch Lodge. So far all was perfectly right,
• 1:04:38
  but Lady Russell was almost startled by the wrong of one part of the Kellynch
• 1:04:42
  Hall plan when it burst on her, which was missus Clay's being engaged to
• 1:04:46
  go to Bath with Sir Walter and Elizabeth as a most important and valuable assistant
• 1:04:51
  to the latter in all the business before her. Lady Russell was extremely sorry
• 1:04:57
  that such a measure should have been resorted to at all, wondered, grieved,
• 1:05:00
  and feared, and the affront it contained to Anne, in missus Clay's
• 1:05:05
  being of so much use while Anne could be of none, was a very
• 1:05:10
  sore aggravation. Anne herself was become hardened to such affronts, but she felt
• 1:05:16
  the imprudence of the arrangement quite as keenly as Lady Russell, with a great
• 1:05:20
  deal of quiet observation and a knowledge which she often wished less of her father's
• 1:05:27
  character. She was sensible that results the most serious to his family from the
• 1:05:31
  intimacy were more than possible. She did not imagine that her father had at
• 1:05:36
  present an idea of the kind. Missus Clay had freckles and a projecting tooth
• 1:05:42
  and a clumsy wrist, which he was continually making severe remarks upon in her
• 1:05:46
  absence. But she was young. Anne certainly altogether well looking, and possessed
• 1:05:53
  in an acute mind and assidious pleasing manners, infinitely more dangerous attractions than any
• 1:06:00
  personal might have been. Anne were so impressed by the degree of their danger
• 1:06:04
  that she could not excuse herself from trying to make it perceptible to her sister.
• 1:06:10
  She had little hope of success. But Elizabeth, who in the event
• 1:06:14
  of such a reverse would be so much more to be pitied than herself,
• 1:06:17
  should never, she thought, have reason to reproach her for giving no warning,
• 1:06:23
  she spoke and seemed only to offend. Elizabeth could not conceive how such
• 1:06:29
  an absurd suspicion should occurred to her, and indignantly answered for each parties,
• 1:06:32
  perfectly knowing their situation. Missus Clay, she said, warmly, never forgets
• 1:06:39
  who she is. And as I am rather better acquainted with her sentiments than
• 1:06:43
  you can be, I assure you that upon the subject of marriage, they
• 1:06:45
  are particularly nice, and that she reprobates all inequality of condition and rank more
• 1:06:50
  strongly than most people. And as to my father, I really should not
• 1:06:55
  have thought that he who has kept himself single so long for our sakes,
• 1:06:58
  need be suspected. Now. If missus Clay were a very beautiful woman,
• 1:07:01
  I grant you it might be wrong to have her so much with me.
• 1:07:04
  Not that anything in the world I am sure would induce my father to make
• 1:07:09
  a degrading match. But he might be rendered unhappy, but poor missus Clay,
• 1:07:13
  who with all her merits, can never have been reckoned tolerably pretty.
• 1:07:16
  I really think poor missus Clay may be staying here in perfect safety. One
• 1:07:20
  would imagine you had never heard my father speak of her personal misfortunes, though
• 1:07:24
  I know you must fifty times that tooth of hers and those freckles. Freckles
• 1:07:29
  do not disgust me so very much as they do him. I have known
• 1:07:31
  a face not materially disfigured by a few, but he abominates them. You
• 1:07:35
  must have heard him notice missus Clay's freckles. There is hardly any personal defect,
• 1:07:41
  replied Anne, which an agreeable manner might not gradually reconcile one too.
• 1:07:45
  I think very differently, answered Elizabeth. Shortly. An agreeable manner may set
• 1:07:50
  off handsome features, but can never alter plain ones. However, at any
• 1:07:55
  rate, as I have a great deal more at stake on this point than
• 1:07:58
  anybody else can have, I think it rather unnecessary in you to be advising
• 1:08:00
  me. Anne had done glad that it was over, and not absolutely hopeless
• 1:08:06
  of doing good. Elizabeth, though resenting the suspicion might yet be made observant
• 1:08:12
  by it. The last office of the four carriage horses was to draw Sir
• 1:08:17
  Walter, Miss Elliot, and missus Clay to bath. The party drove off
• 1:08:21
  in very good spirits, Sir Walter prepared with condescending bows for all the afflicted
• 1:08:27
  tenantry and cottagers who might have had a hint to show themselves, and Anne
• 1:08:31
  walked up at the same time in a sort of desolate tranquility, to the
• 1:08:36
  lodge where she was to spend the first week. Her friend was not in
• 1:08:42
  better spirits than herself. Lady Russell felt this break up of the family exceedingly.
• 1:08:47
  Their respectability was as dear to her as her own, and a daily
• 1:08:51
  intercourse had become precious by habit. It was painful to look upon their deserted
• 1:08:58
  grounds, and still worse to went toticipate the new hands they were to fall
• 1:09:00
  into, and to escape the solitariness and the melancholy of so altered a village
• 1:09:05
  and be out of the way. When Admiral and Missus Croft first arrived,
• 1:09:10
  she had determined to make her own absence from home begin when she must give
• 1:09:14
  up Anne. Accordingly, their removal was made together, and Anne was set
• 1:09:19
  down at Uppercross Cottage in the first stage of Lady Russell's journey. Uppercross was
• 1:09:27
  a moderate sized village which a few years back had been completely in the old
• 1:09:30
  English style, containing only two houses, superior in appearance to those of the
• 1:09:35
  yeomen and laborers. The mansion of the squire, with its high walls,
• 1:09:40
  great gates and old trees, substantial and unmodernized, and a compact, tight
• 1:09:45
  parsonage enclosed in its own neat garden, with a vine and a pear tree
• 1:09:50
  trained round its casements. But upon the marriage of the young Squire it had
• 1:09:55
  received the improvement of a farmhouse elevated into a cottage for his residence. An
• 1:10:00
  Upper Cross cottage, with its veranda, French windows, and other prettiness,
• 1:10:04
  was quite as likely to catch the traveler's eye as the more consistent and considerable
• 1:10:10
  aspect and premises of the great house about a quarter of a mile farther on.
• 1:10:15
  Here Anne had often been staying. She knew the ways of Upper Cross
• 1:10:19
  as well as those of carriage. The two families were so continually meeting,
• 1:10:24
  so much in the habit of running in and out of each other's house at
• 1:10:27
  all hours, that it was rather a surprise to her to find Mary alone,
• 1:10:31
  but being alone her being unwell and out of spirits was almost a matter
• 1:10:36
  of course. Though better endowed than the elder sister, Mary had not Anne's
• 1:10:43
  understanding nor temper. While well and happy and properly attended to, she had
• 1:10:47
  great, good humor and excellent spirits, but any indisposition sunk her completely.
• 1:10:55
  She had no resources for solitude, and, inheriting a considerable share of the
• 1:10:59
  la itself importance, was very prone to add to every other distress that of
• 1:11:03
  fancying herself neglected and ill used in person. She was inferior to both sisters,
• 1:11:11
  and had, even in her bloom, only reached the dignity of being
• 1:11:14
  a fine girl. She was now lying on the faded sofa of the pretty
• 1:11:18
  little drawing room, the once elegant furniture of which had been gradually growing shabby
• 1:11:24
  under the influence of four summers and two children, and on Anne's appearing,
• 1:11:29
  greeted her with, so you are come at last. I began to think
• 1:11:32
  I should never see you. I am so ill, I can hardly speak.
• 1:11:36
  I have not seen a creature the whole morning. I am sorry to
• 1:11:40
  find you in well, replied Anne, you sent me such a good account
• 1:11:43
  of yourself on Thursday. Yes, I made the best of it. I
• 1:11:46
  always do. But I was very far from well at the time, and
• 1:11:49
  I do not think I ever was so ill in my life as I have
• 1:11:53
  been all this morning, very unfit to be left alone. I am sure
• 1:11:58
  suppose I were to be seized aside and in some dreadful way, and not
• 1:12:01
  able to ring the bell so Lady Russell would not get out. I do
• 1:12:05
  not think she has been in this house three times this summer. Anne said
• 1:12:10
  what was proper and inquired after her husband. Oh, Charles is out shooting.
• 1:12:15
  I have not seen him since seven o'clock. He would go though I
• 1:12:18
  told him how ill I was. He said he should not stay out long.
• 1:12:23
  But he has never come back, and now it is almost one.
• 1:12:26
  I assure you I have not seen a soul this whole long morning. You
• 1:12:30
  have had your little boys with you, yes, as long as I could
• 1:12:33
  bear their noise, But they are so unmanageable that they do me more harm
• 1:12:38
  than good. Little Charles does not mind a word I say, and Walter
• 1:12:42
  is growing quite as bad. Well, you will soon be better, now,
• 1:12:45
  replied Anne cheerfully. You know I always cure you when I come.
• 1:12:49
  How are your neighbors at the Great House. I can give you no account
• 1:12:53
  of them. I have not seen one of them to day, except mister
• 1:12:57
  Musgrove, who just stopped and spoke through the window, but without getting off
• 1:13:00
  his horse. And though I told him how ill I was not one of
• 1:13:03
  them have been near me. It did not happen to suit the miss Musgroves,
• 1:13:06
  I suppose, and they never put themselves out of their way. You
• 1:13:10
  will see them yet, perhaps before the morning is gone. It is early.
• 1:13:14
  I never want them, I assure you. They talk and laugh a
• 1:13:17
  great deal too much for me, Oh Anne, I am so very unwell.
• 1:13:21
  He was quite unkind of you not to come on Thursday, my dear
• 1:13:25
  Mary recollect what a comfortable account you sent me of yourself. He wrote in
• 1:13:30
  the cheerfulest manner, and said you were perfectly well and in no hurry for
• 1:13:34
  me. And that being the case, you must be aware that my wish
• 1:13:38
  would be to remain with Lady Russell to the last. And besides what I
• 1:13:42
  felt on her account, I've really been so busy. I've had so much
• 1:13:45
  to do that I could not very conveniently have left Kelvinch sooner, Dear me,
• 1:13:50
  what can you possibly have to do? A great many things, I
• 1:13:54
  assure you, more than I can recollect in a moment. But I can
• 1:13:59
  tell you some. I have been making a duplicate of the catalog of my
• 1:14:02
  father's books and pictures. I've been several times in the garden with mac Kenzie,
• 1:14:06
  trying to understand and make him understand which of Elizabeth's plants are Lady Russell.
• 1:14:12
  I have had all my own little concerns to arrange books and music,
• 1:14:15
  to divide in all my trunks, to repack from not having understood in time
• 1:14:18
  what was intended as to the wagons, and one thing I have had to
• 1:14:23
  do Mary of a more trying nature. Going to almost every house in the
• 1:14:27
  parish is a sort of leave taking. I was told that they wished it.
• 1:14:31
  But all these things took up a great deal of time. Oh well,
• 1:14:35
  and after a moment's pause, but you have never asked me one word
• 1:14:40
  about our dinner at the Paul's yesterday. Did you go? Then? I
• 1:14:44
  have made no inquiries because I concluded you must have been obliged to give up
• 1:14:47
  the party. Oh yes, I went. I was very well yesterday.
• 1:14:50
  Nothing at all the matter with me till this morning. It would have been
• 1:14:54
  strange if I had not gone. I am very glad you were well enough,
• 1:14:58
  and I hope you had a pleasant nothing remarkable. One always knows beforehand
• 1:15:02
  what the dinner will be and who will be there, and it is so
• 1:15:05
  very uncomfortable not having a carriage of one's own. Mister and missus Musgrove took
• 1:15:10
  me, and we were so crowded. They are both so very large and
• 1:15:14
  take up so much room, and mister Musgrove always sits forward, so there
• 1:15:18
  I was crowded into the back seat with Henrietta and Louise. And I think
• 1:15:23
  it very likely that my illness to day may be owing to it. A
• 1:15:27
  little further perseverance in patience and forced cheerfulness on Anne's side produced nearly a cure
• 1:15:32
  on Mary's. She could soon sit upright on the sofa and began to hope
• 1:15:36
  she might be able to leave it by dinner time. Then, forgetting to
• 1:15:41
  think of it, she was at the other end of the room, beautifying
• 1:15:45
  a nosegay. Then she ate her cold meat, and then she was well
• 1:15:48
  enough to propose a little walk. Where shall we go? Said she?
• 1:15:53
  When they were ready. I suppose you will not like to call at the
• 1:15:56
  Great House before they have been to see you. I have not the smallest
• 1:15:59
  objection on that. She can't, replied Anne, I should never think of
• 1:16:01
  standing on such ceremony with people I know so well as missus and miss Muskros.
• 1:16:06
  Oh, but they ought to call upon you as soon as possible.
• 1:16:10
  They ought to feel what is due to you as my sister. However,
• 1:16:14
  we may as well go and sit with him a little while, and when
• 1:16:16
  we have that over, we can enjoy our walk. Anne had always thought
• 1:16:20
  such a style of intercourse highly imprudent, but she had ceased to endeavor to
• 1:16:25
  check it from believing that though they were on each side continual subjects of offense,
• 1:16:30
  neither family could now do without it to the Great House. Accordingly,
• 1:16:34
  they went to sit the full half hour in the old fashioned squire parlor,
• 1:16:39
  with a small carpet and shining floor, to which the present daughters of the
• 1:16:43
  house were gradually giving the proper air of confusion by a grand pianoforte and a
• 1:16:47
  harp, flower stands and little tables placed in each direction. Oh, could
• 1:16:53
  the originals of the portraits against the waistcoat. Could the gentlemen in brown velvet
• 1:16:58
  and the ladies in blue sat and have seen what was going on? Have
• 1:17:01
  been conscious of such an overthrow of all order and neatness. The pontraits themselves
• 1:17:06
  seemed to be staring in astonishment. The Musgroves, like their houses, were
• 1:17:12
  in a state of alteration, perhaps of improvement. The father and mother were
• 1:17:16
  in the old English style, and the young people in the new. Mister
• 1:17:20
  and Missus Musgrove were a very good sort of people, friendly and hospitable,
• 1:17:26
  not much educated, and not at all elegant. Their children had more modern
• 1:17:30
  minds and manners. There was a numerous family, but the only two grown
• 1:17:35
  up, excepting Charles, were Henrietta and Louisa, young ladies of nineteen and
• 1:17:41
  twenty, who had brought from school at Exeter all the usual stock of accomplishments,
• 1:17:45
  and were now, like thousands of other young ladies, living to be
• 1:17:48
  fashionable, happy and merry. Their dress had every advantage, their faces were
• 1:17:55
  rather pretty, their spirits extremely good, their manner unembarrassed and pleasant. They
• 1:18:00
  were of consequence at home and favorites abroad. Anne always contemplated them as some
• 1:18:05
  of the happiest creatures of her acquaintance, but still saved, as we all
• 1:18:11
  are, by some comfortable feeling of superiority from wishing for the possibility of exchange.
• 1:18:16
  She would not have given up her own more elegant and cultivated mind for
• 1:18:20
  all their enjoyments, and envied them nothing but that seemingly perfect, good understanding
• 1:18:26
  and agreement together, that good humored mutual affection of which she had known so
• 1:18:30
  little herself. With either of her sisters, they were received with great cordiality.
• 1:18:36
  Nothing seemed amiss on the side of the Great House family, which was
• 1:18:40
  generally, as Anne very well knew, the least to blame. The half
• 1:18:45
  hour was chatted away pleasantly enough, and she was not at all surprised at
• 1:18:48
  the end of it to have their walking party joined by both the Miss Muskeroves
• 1:18:54
  at Mary's particular invitation and of Chapter five of Persuasion Chapter six of Persuasion.
• 1:19:01
  An had not wanted this visit to Uppercross to learn that a removal from one
• 1:19:06
  set of people to another, though at a distance of only three miles,
• 1:19:11
  will often include a total change of conversation, opinion, and idea. She
• 1:19:15
  had never been staying there before without being struck by it, or without wishing
• 1:19:19
  that other elliots could have her advantage in seeing how unknown or unconsidered there were
• 1:19:25
  the affairs which at Kellynch Hall were treated as of such general publicity and pervading
• 1:19:30
  interest. And yet with all this experience, she believed she must now submit
• 1:19:35
  to feel that another lesson in the art of knowing our own nothingness beyond our
• 1:19:41
  own circle, was becoming necessary for her. For certainly, coming as she
• 1:19:45
  did with a heart full of the subject which had been completely occupying both houses
• 1:19:50
  in Kellynch for many weeks, she had expected rather more curiosity and sympathy than
• 1:19:56
  she found in the separate but very similar remark of mister and missus Musgrove.
• 1:20:00
  So miss Anne, Sir Walter and your sister are gone, and what part
• 1:20:05
  of Bath do you think they will settle in? And this without much waiting
• 1:20:10
  for an answer, or in the young ladies addition of I hope we shall
• 1:20:14
  be in Bath in the winter. But remember, Papa, if we do
• 1:20:17
  go, we must be in a good situation. None of your queen squares
• 1:20:21
  for us, or in the anxious supplement from Mary of upon my word,
• 1:20:27
  I shall be pretty well off when you are all gone away to be happy
• 1:20:30
  at Bath, she could only resolve to avoid such self delusion in future,
• 1:20:34
  and think with heightened gratitude of the extraordinary blessing of having one such truly sympathizing
• 1:20:40
  friend as Lady Russell. The mister Musgroves had their own game to guard and
• 1:20:45
  to destroy, their own horses, dogs and newspapers to engage them, and
• 1:20:50
  the females were fully occupied in all the other common subjects of housekeeping, neighbors,
• 1:20:56
  dress, dancing, and music. Knowledged it to be very fitting that
• 1:21:01
  every little social commonwealth should dictate its own matters of discourse, and hoped ere
• 1:21:06
  long to become a not unworthy member of the one she was now transplanted into.
• 1:21:12
  With the prospect of spending at least two months at Uppercross, it was
• 1:21:15
  highly incumbent on her to clothe her imagination, her memory, and all her
• 1:21:20
  ideas in as much of Uppercross as possible. She had no dread of these
• 1:21:27
  two months. Mary was not so repulsive and unsisterly as Elizabeth, nor so
• 1:21:31
  inaccessible to all influence of hers Neither was there anything among the other component parts
• 1:21:36
  of the cottage inimicable to comfort. She was always on friendly terms with her
• 1:21:41
  brother in law and in the children, who loved her nearly as well and
• 1:21:45
  respected her a great deal more than their mother. She had an object of
• 1:21:49
  interest, amusements, and wholesome exertion. Charles Musgrove was civil and agreeable in
• 1:21:57
  sense and temper. He was undoubtedly superior to her his wife, but not
• 1:22:00
  of powers or conversation or grace to make the past as they were connected together
• 1:22:05
  at all a dangerous contemplation, though at the same time Anne could believe with
• 1:22:12
  Lady Russell that a more equal match might have greatly improved him, and that
• 1:22:15
  a woman of real understanding might have given more consequence to his character, and
• 1:22:20
  more usefulness, rationality, and elegance to his habits and pursuits. As it
• 1:22:27
  was, he did nothing with much zeal but sport, and his time was
• 1:22:30
  otherwise trifled away without benefit from books or anything else. He had very good
• 1:22:36
  spirits, which never seemed much affected by his wife's occasional lowness bore with her
• 1:22:41
  unreasonableness, sometimes to Anne's admiration, and upon the whole, though there was
• 1:22:46
  very often a little disagreement in which she had sometimes more share than she wished,
• 1:22:51
  being appealed to by both parties. They might pass for a happy couple.
• 1:22:57
  They were always perfectly agreed in the want of more money and a strong
• 1:23:00
  inclination for a handsome present from his father. But here, as on most
• 1:23:04
  topics, he had the superiority, For while Mary thought it a great shame
• 1:23:10
  that such a present was not made, he always contended for his father's having
• 1:23:14
  many other uses for his money and a right to spend it as he liked.
• 1:23:18
  As to the management of their children, his theory was much better than
• 1:23:21
  his wife's, and his practice not so bad. I could manage them very
• 1:23:26
  well if it were not for Mary's interference. Was what Anne often heard him
• 1:23:30
  say, and had a good deal of faith in. But when listening in
• 1:23:33
  turn to Mary's reproach of Charles spoils the children so that it cannot get them
• 1:23:39
  into any order, She'd never had the smallest temptation to say, very true.
• 1:23:44
  One of the least agreeable circumstances of her residence there was her being treated
• 1:23:48
  with too much confidence by all parties, and being too much in the secret
• 1:23:53
  of the complaints of each house. Known to have some influence with her sister,
• 1:23:57
  she was continually requested or le receiving hints to exert it beyond what was
• 1:24:01
  practicable. I wish you could persuade Mary not to be always fancying herself Ill
• 1:24:08
  was Charles's language, and in an unhappy mood, thus spoke Mary. I
• 1:24:12
  do believe if Charles were to see me dine, he would not think there
• 1:24:15
  was anything the matter with me. I am sure, Anne, if you
• 1:24:18
  would, you might persuade him that I really am very ill, a great
• 1:24:23
  deal worse than I ever own. Mary's declaration was I hate sending the children
• 1:24:27
  to the Great House, though their Grandmama is always wanting to see them,
• 1:24:30
  for she humors and indulges them to such a degree and gives them so much
• 1:24:34
  trash and sweet things that they are sure to come back sick and cross for
• 1:24:38
  the rest of the day. And Missus Musgrove took the first opportunity of being
• 1:24:42
  alone with Anne to say, oh, miss Anne, I cannot help wishing
• 1:24:45
  Missus Charles had a little of your method with those children. They are quite
• 1:24:49
  different creatures with you, but to be sure, in general they are so
• 1:24:54
  spoiled. It is a pity you cannot put your sister in the way of
• 1:24:58
  managing them. They are as fine, healthy children as ever were seen,
• 1:25:01
  poor little DearS without partiality. But Missus Charles knows no more how they should
• 1:25:06
  be treated, bless me, how troublesome they are sometimes, I assure you,
• 1:25:13
  miss Anne, it prevents my wishing to see them at our house so
• 1:25:16
  often as I otherwise should. I believe Missus Charles is not quite pleased with
• 1:25:21
  my not inviting them oftener. But you know it is very bad to have
• 1:25:27
  children with one that one is obligated to be checking every moment don't do this
• 1:25:31
  and don't do that, or that one can only keep in tolerable order by
• 1:25:36
  more cake than is good for them. She had this communication moreover from Mary.
• 1:25:43
  Missus Musgrove thinks all her servants so steady that it would be high trees
• 1:25:46
  into call it in question. But I am sure, without exaggeration, that
• 1:25:50
  her upper housemaid and nondry maid, instead of being in their business, are
• 1:25:55
  gadding about the village all day long. I meet them wherever I go,
• 1:25:59
  and Claire, I never go twice into my nursery without seeing something of them.
• 1:26:03
  If Jemima were not the trustiest, steadiest creature in the world, it
• 1:26:06
  would be enough to spoil her, for she tells me they are always tempting
• 1:26:10
  her to take a walk with him. And on Missus Musgrove's side, it
• 1:26:13
  was I make a rule of never interfering in any of my daughter in law's
• 1:26:17
  concerns, for I know it would not do. But I shall tell you,
• 1:26:21
  miss Anne, because you may be able to set things to rights,
• 1:26:25
  that I have no very good opinion of Missus Charles's nursery maid. I hear
• 1:26:30
  strange stories of her. She is always upon the gad and from my own
• 1:26:34
  knowledge I can declare she is such a fine dressing lady that she has enough
• 1:26:38
  to ruin any servants she comes near. Missus Charles quite swears by her,
• 1:26:43
  I know, But I just give you this hint that you may be upon
• 1:26:46
  the watch, because if you see anything amiss, you need not be afraid
• 1:26:50
  of mentioning it. Again, it was Mary's complaint that Missus Musgrove was very
• 1:26:55
  apt not to give her the precedence that she was due when they dined at
• 1:26:59
  the Great House with other families, and she did not see any reason why
• 1:27:01
  she was to be considered so much at home as to lose her place.
• 1:27:05
  And one day, when Anne was walking with only the musgroves. One of
• 1:27:10
  them, after talking of rank, people of rank and jealousy of rank,
• 1:27:14
  said I have no scruple of observing to you how nonsensical some persons are about
• 1:27:19
  their place, because all the world knows how easy and indifferent you are about
• 1:27:24
  it. But I wish everybody could give Mary a hint that it would be
• 1:27:28
  a great deal better if she were not so very tenacious, especially if she
• 1:27:32
  would not be always putting herself forward to take place of Mamma. Nobody doubts
• 1:27:38
  her right to have precedence of Mamma, but it would be more becoming in
• 1:27:41
  her not to be always insisting on it. It is not that Mamma cares
• 1:27:45
  about it the least in the world, but I know it has taken notice
• 1:27:48
  of by many persons. How was Anne to set all these matters to rights?
• 1:27:54
  She could do little more that listened patiently, soften every grievance, and
• 1:27:58
  excuse each to the give them all hints of the forbearance necessary between such near
• 1:28:03
  neighbors, and make those hints broadests, which were meant for her sister's benefit.
• 1:28:09
  In all respects. Her visit began and proceeded very well. Her own
• 1:28:14
  spirits improved by change of place and subject, by being removed three miles from
• 1:28:18
  Kellynch, Mary's ailments lessened by having a constant companion, and their daily intercourse
• 1:28:25
  with the other family. Since there was neither superior affection, confidence, nor
• 1:28:30
  employment in the cottage to be interrupted by it was rather an advantage. It
• 1:28:34
  was certainly carried nearly as far as possible, for they met every morning and
• 1:28:39
  hardly ever spent an evening asunder. But she believed they should not have done
• 1:28:44
  so well without the side of mister to missus Musgrove's respectable forms in the usual
• 1:28:47
  places, or without the talking, laughing and singing of their daughters. She
• 1:28:54
  played a great deal better than either of the miss Musgroves, but having no
• 1:28:59
  voice, knowledge of the harp, had no fond parents to sit by and
• 1:29:02
  fancy themselves delighted. Her performance was little thought of, only out of civility
• 1:29:08
  or to refresh the others. As she was well aware. She knew that
• 1:29:12
  when she played, she was giving pleasure only to herself, but this was
• 1:29:16
  no new sensation. Accepting any short period of her life, she had never
• 1:29:21
  since the age of fourteen, never since the loss of her dear mother,
• 1:29:26
  known the happiness of being listened to or encouraged by any just appreciation or real
• 1:29:30
  taste in music. She had been always used to feel alone in the world.
• 1:29:35
  At Mister and Missus Musgrove's fond partiality for their own daughter's performance and total
• 1:29:41
  indifference to any other persons gave her much more pleasure for their sakes than mortification
• 1:29:46
  for her own. The party at the Great House was sometimes increased by other
• 1:29:51
  company. The neighborhood was not large, but the Musgroves were visited by everybody,
• 1:29:57
  and had more dinner parties and more callers, more visitors by invitation and
• 1:30:01
  by chance than any other family. They were more completely popular, the girls
• 1:30:08
  were wild for dancing, and the evenings ended occasionally in an unpremeditated little ball.
• 1:30:14
  There was a family of cousins within a walk of Upper Cross, in
• 1:30:16
  less affluent circumstances, who depended on the Musgroves for all their pleasures. They
• 1:30:21
  would come at any time and help play at anything or dance anywhere, and
• 1:30:27
  Anne, very much preferring the office of musician to a more active post,
• 1:30:31
  played country dances to them by the hour together, a kindness which always recommended
• 1:30:36
  her musical powers to the notice of mister and missus Musgrove more than anything else,
• 1:30:42
  and often drew this compliment. Well done, miss Anne, very well
• 1:30:46
  done. Indeed, Lord bless me, how those little fingers of yours fly
• 1:30:50
  about so passed the first three weeks Michaelmas came, and now Anne's heart must
• 1:30:57
  be in Kellynch again, a beloved and home made over to others, all
• 1:31:01
  the precious rooms and furniture, groves and prospects beginning to own other eyes and
• 1:31:08
  other limbs. She could not think of much else on the twenty ninth of
• 1:31:12
  September, and she had this sympathetic touch in the evening from Mary, who,
• 1:31:15
  on having occasion to note down the day of the month, exclaimed,
• 1:31:19
  dear me, is this not the day the cross for to come to Kellynch.
• 1:31:24
  I'm glad I did not think of it before. How low it makes
• 1:31:27
  me. The craft took possession with true naval alertness and were to be visited.
• 1:31:31
  Mary deplored the necessity for herself. Nobody knew how much she should suffer.
• 1:31:38
  She should put it off as long as she could, but was not
• 1:31:42
  easy till she had talked Charles into driving her over on an early day and
• 1:31:45
  was in a very animated, comfortable state of imaginary agitation. When she got
• 1:31:50
  back, Anne had very sincerely rejoiced in there being no means of her going.
• 1:31:57
  She wished, however, to see the crofts, and was glad had
• 1:32:00
  to be within. When the visit was returned they came. The master of
• 1:32:03
  the house was not at home, but the two sisters were together, and
• 1:32:09
  as it chanced that missus Croft fell to the share of Anne, while the
• 1:32:12
  Admiral sat by Mary, and made himself very agreeable by his good humored notice
• 1:32:16
  of her little boys. She was well able to watch for a likeness,
• 1:32:19
  and if it failed her in the features, to catch it in the voice
• 1:32:24
  or in the turn of sentiment and expression. Missus Croft, though neither tall
• 1:32:29
  nor fat, had a squareness, uprightness, and vigor of form which gave
• 1:32:32
  importance to her person. She had bright, dark eyes, good teeth,
• 1:32:38
  and altogether an agreeable face. Though her reddened and weather beaten complexion, the
• 1:32:43
  consequence of her having been almost as much at sea as her husband, made
• 1:32:46
  her seem to have lived some years longer in the world than her real eight
• 1:32:50
  and thirty. Her manners were open, easy and decided, like one who
• 1:32:55
  had no distrust of herself, and no doubts of what to do. Without
• 1:32:59
  any apach to coarseness, however, or any want of good humor. Nanne
• 1:33:03
  gave her credit, indeed for feelings of great consideration towards herself in all that
• 1:33:09
  related to Kellynch and it pleased her, especially as she had satisfied herself in
• 1:33:14
  the very first half minutes, in the instant even of introduction, that there
• 1:33:18
  was not the smallest symptom of any knowledge or suspicion on missus Croft's side to
• 1:33:23
  give a bias of any sort. She was quite easy on that head,
• 1:33:28
  and consequently full of strength and courage, till for a moment, electrified by
• 1:33:32
  missus Croft's suddenly saying it was you and not your sister. I find that
• 1:33:39
  my brother had the pleasure of being acquainted with when he was in this country.
• 1:33:43
  Anne hoped that she had outlived the age of blushing, but the age
• 1:33:46
  of emotion she certainly had not. Perhaps you may not have heard that she
• 1:33:51
  is married, added missus Croft. She could now answer as she ought,
• 1:33:57
  and was happy to feel when missus Croft's next words explained it to be mister
• 1:34:00
  Wentworth, of whom she spoke that she had said nothing which might not do
• 1:34:03
  for either brother. She immediately felt how reasonable it was that missus Croft should
• 1:34:10
  be thinking and speaking of Edward and not of Frederick, and with shame at
• 1:34:14
  her own forgetfulness, applied herself to the knowledge of their former neighbor's present state
• 1:34:18
  with proper interest. The rest was all tranquilent till just as they were moving
• 1:34:25
  she heard the admiral say to Mary, we are expecting a brother of missus
• 1:34:29
  Cross here soon. I dare say you know him by name. He was
• 1:34:33
  cut short by the eager attacks of the little boys, clinging to him like
• 1:34:36
  an old friend, and declaring he should not go, and being too much
• 1:34:41
  engrossed by proposals of carrying them away in his coat pockets, et cetera,
• 1:34:45
  to have another moment for finishing or recollecting what he had begun. Anne was
• 1:34:49
  left to persuade herself as well as she could that the same brother must still
• 1:34:55
  be in question. She could not, however, reach such a degree of
• 1:34:59
  certainty as not to be anxious to hear whether anything had been said on the
• 1:35:02
  subject of the other house, where the Crafts had previously been calling the folks
• 1:35:09
  of the Great House were to spend the evening of this day at the cottage,
• 1:35:12
  and it being now too late in the year for such visits to be
• 1:35:15
  made on foot. The coach was beginning to be listened for when the youngest
• 1:35:18
  Miss Musgrove walked in that she was coming to apologize, and that they should
• 1:35:24
  have to spend the evening by themselves. Was the first black idea, and
• 1:35:28
  Mary was quite ready to be affronted when Louisa made all right by saying that
• 1:35:32
  she only came on foot to leave more room for the harp which was bringing
• 1:35:36
  in the carriage. And I will tell you our reason, she added,
• 1:35:41
  And all about it, I am come on to give you. Notice that
• 1:35:45
  Papa and Mamma out of spirits this evening, especially Mamma. She thinks so
• 1:35:48
  much of poor Richard's and we agreed it would be best to have the harp,
• 1:35:53
  for it seems to amuse him more than the Pianoforte. I will tell
• 1:35:57
  you why she's out of spirits. When the Crofts called us this morning,
• 1:36:00
  they called here afterwards, did they not? They happened to say that her
• 1:36:03
  brother, Captain Wentworth, is just returned to England or paid off for something,
• 1:36:09
  and is coming to see them almost directly, and most unluckily it came
• 1:36:14
  into Mamma's heads when they were gone, that Wentworth thought something like that was
• 1:36:18
  the name of poor Richard's captain at one time. I do not know when
• 1:36:24
  or where, but a great while before he died poor fellow, And upon
• 1:36:29
  looking over his letters and things, she found it was so, and is
• 1:36:32
  perfectly sure that this must be the very man, and her head is quite
• 1:36:36
  full of it and of poor Richards. So we must be as merry as
• 1:36:40
  we can that she may not be dwelling upon such gloomy things. The real
• 1:36:44
  circumstances of this pathetic piece of family history were that the Musgroves had had the
• 1:36:48
  ill fortune of a very troublesome, hopeless son and the good fortune to lose
• 1:36:54
  him before he reached his twentieth year. That he had been sent to sea
• 1:36:58
  because he was stupid and on manner legible on shore. That he had been
• 1:37:01
  very little cared for at any time by his family, though quite as much
• 1:37:05
  as he deserved, seldom heard of, and scarcely had all regretted when the
• 1:37:10
  intelligence of his death abroad had worked its way to Uppercross two years before he
• 1:37:15
  had, in fact, though his sisters were now doing all they could for
• 1:37:19
  him by calling him poor Richard, been nothing better than a thick headed,
• 1:37:25
  unfeeling, unprofitable dick Musgrove, who had never done anything to entitle himself to
• 1:37:30
  more than the abbreviation of his name, living or dead. He had been
• 1:37:34
  several years at sea, and had, in the course of those removals to
• 1:37:39
  which all midshipmen are liable, and especially such midshipmen as every captain wishes to
• 1:37:44
  get rid of, had been six months on board Captain Frederick went Worth's frigate,
• 1:37:48
  the Laconia, And from the Laconia, he had, under the influence
• 1:37:53
  of his captain, written the only two letters which his father and mother had
• 1:37:57
  ever received from him during the whole of his ante absence, that is to
• 1:38:00
  say, the only two disinterested letters. All the rest had been mere applications
• 1:38:06
  for money. In each letter he had spoken well of his captain. But
• 1:38:12
  yet so little were they in the habit of attending to such matters, so
• 1:38:15
  unobservant and incurious were they as to the names of men or ships, that
• 1:38:19
  it had made scarcely any impression at the time, And that missus Musgrove should
• 1:38:25
  have been suddenly struck this very day with a recollection of the name Wentworth as
• 1:38:30
  connected with her son, seemed one of those extraordinary bursts of mind which do
• 1:38:34
  sometimes occur. She had gone to her letters and found it all as she
• 1:38:40
  supposed, And the re perusal of these letters, after so long an interval,
• 1:38:45
  her poor son gone forever, and all the strength of his faults forgotten,
• 1:38:48
  had affected her spirits exceedingly and thrown her into greater grief for him than
• 1:38:54
  she had known on first hearing of his death. Mister Musgrove was in a
• 1:38:59
  lesser degree of feis affected likewise, And when they reached the cottage, they
• 1:39:02
  were evidently in want, first of being listened to anew on this subject,
• 1:39:06
  and afterwards of all the relief which cheerful companions can give them to hear them
• 1:39:13
  talking so much of Captain Wentworth, repeating his name so often, puzzling over
• 1:39:17
  past years, and at last ascertaining that it might that it probably would turn
• 1:39:23
  out to be the very same Captain Wentworth, whom they recollected meeting once or
• 1:39:27
  twice after their coming back from Clifton, a very fine young man. But
• 1:39:31
  they could not say whether it was seven or eight years ago, was a
• 1:39:35
  new sort of trial to Anne's nerves. She found, however, that it
• 1:39:40
  was one to which she must inure herself. Since he actually was expected in
• 1:39:45
  the country, she must teach herself to be insensible on such points. And
• 1:39:49
  not only did it appear that he was expected and speedily, but the Musgroves,
• 1:39:56
  in their warm gratitude for the kindness he had shown poor Dick and very
• 1:39:59
  high respect for his character, stamped as it was by poor Dix having been
• 1:40:03
  six months under his care, and mentioning him in strong, though not perfectly
• 1:40:08
  well spelt praise as a fine dashing fellow, only too particular about the schoolmaster,
• 1:40:15
  were bent on introducing themselves and seeking his acquaintance as soon as they could
• 1:40:19
  hear of his arrival. The resolution of them doing so helped to form the
• 1:40:25
  comforts of their evening end of Chapter six of Persuasion. Chapter seven of Persuasion.
• 1:40:32
  A very few days more, and Captain Wentworth was known to be at
• 1:40:36
  Kellynch, and mister Grove had called on him and come back warm in his
• 1:40:41
  praise, and he was engaged with the Crofts to dine at Uppercross. By
• 1:40:45
  the end of another week. It had been a great disappointment to mister Musgrove
• 1:40:49
  to find that no earlier day could be fixed. So impatient was he to
• 1:40:53
  show his gratitude by seeing Captain Wentworth under his own roof and welcoming him to
• 1:40:58
  all that was strongest and best in his cellars. But a week must pass,
• 1:41:03
  only a week in Anne's reckoning, and then she supposed they must meet,
• 1:41:09
  and soon she began to wish that she could feel secure even for a
• 1:41:12
  week. Captain Wentworth made a very early return to mister Musgrove's civility, and
• 1:41:17
  she was all but calling there. In the same half hour she and Mary
• 1:41:23
  were actually setting forward for the Great House, where as she afterwards learnt,
• 1:41:27
  they must inevitably have found him when they were stopped by the eldest boys,
• 1:41:31
  being at that moment brought home in consequence of a bad fall. The child's
• 1:41:36
  situation put the visit entirely aside, but she could not hear of her escape
• 1:41:42
  with indifference, even in the midst of the serious anxiety which they afterwards felt.
• 1:41:46
  On his account. His collar bone was found to be dislocated, and
• 1:41:51
  such injury received in the back as roused the most alarming ideas. It was
• 1:41:57
  an afternoon of distress. Had everything to do at once, the apothecary to
• 1:42:02
  send for the father to have pursued and informed, the mother to support and
• 1:42:06
  keep from hysterics, the servants to control, the youngest child to banish,
• 1:42:12
  and the poor suffering one to attend and soothe, besides sending as soon as
• 1:42:16
  she recollected it proper notice to the other house, which brought her an accession
• 1:42:21
  rather of frightened inquiring companions than of very useful assistance. Her brother's return was
• 1:42:29
  the first comfort. He could take best care of his wife, and the
• 1:42:32
  second blessing was the arrival of the apothecary. Till he came and had examined
• 1:42:38
  the child, their apprehensions were the worse for being vague. They suspected great
• 1:42:43
  injury, but knew not where. But now the collar bone was soon replaced,
• 1:42:47
  And though mister Robinson felt and felt and rubbed and looked grave and spoke
• 1:42:54
  low words both to the father and the aunt, still they were all to
• 1:42:57
  hope the best, and to be able to part art and eat their dinner
• 1:43:00
  in tolerable ease of mind. And then it was just before they parted that
• 1:43:05
  the two young aunts were able so far to digress from their nephew's state as
• 1:43:11
  to give the information of Captain Wentworth's visit, staying five minutes behind their father
• 1:43:15
  and mother, to endeavor to express how perfectly delighted they were with him,
• 1:43:20
  how much handsomer, how infinitely more agreeable they thought him than any individual among
• 1:43:26
  their male acquaintance who had been at all a favorite before. How glad they
• 1:43:30
  had been to hear Papa invite him to stay dinner, how sorry when he
• 1:43:33
  said it was quite out of his power, And how glad again when he
• 1:43:38
  had promised to reply to Papa and Mamma's farther pressing invitations to come and dine
• 1:43:43
  with them on the morrow, actually on the morrow. And he had promised
• 1:43:47
  it in so pleasant a manner as if he felt all the motive of their
• 1:43:51
  attention just as he ought. And in short, he had looked and said
• 1:43:57
  everything with such exquisite grace that they could assure them all their heads were both
• 1:44:02
  turned by him, and off they ran, quite as full of glee as
• 1:44:06
  of love, and apparently more full of Captain Wentworth than of little Charles.
• 1:44:13
  The same story and the same raptures were repeated when the two girls came with
• 1:44:16
  their father through the gloom of the evening to make inquiries, and mister Musgrove,
• 1:44:21
  no longer under the first uneasiness about his heir, could add his confirmation
• 1:44:26
  and praise and hope there would be now no occasion for putting Captain Wentworth off,
• 1:44:30
  and only be sorry to think that the cottage party probably would not like
• 1:44:34
  to leave the little boy to give him the meeting. Oh no, as
• 1:44:39
  to leaving the little boy, both father and mother were in much too strong
• 1:44:44
  and recent alarm to bear the thought, and Anne, in the joy of
• 1:44:47
  the escape, could not help adding her warm protestations to theirs. Charles Musgrove,
• 1:44:55
  indeed, afterwards showed more of inclination. The child was going on so
• 1:44:59
  well well, and he wished so much to be introduced to Captain Wentworth,
• 1:45:02
  that perhaps he might join them in the evening. He would not dine from
• 1:45:08
  home, but he might walk in for half an hour. But in this
• 1:45:12
  he was eagerly opposed by his wife with, Oh no, indeed, Charles,
• 1:45:16
  I cannot bear to have you go away. Only think if anything should
• 1:45:19
  happen. The child had a good night and was going on well the next
• 1:45:25
  day. It must be a work of time to ascertain that no injury had
• 1:45:29
  been done to the spine. But mister Robinson found nothing to increase alarm,
• 1:45:32
  and Charles Musgrove began consequently to feel no necessity for longer confinement. The child
• 1:45:40
  was to be kept in bed and amused as quietly as possible. But what
• 1:45:44
  was there for a father to do. This was quite a female case,
• 1:45:46
  and it would be hardly absurd in him, who could be of no use
• 1:45:50
  at home, to shut himself up. His father very much wished him to
• 1:45:55
  meet Captain Wentworth, and there being no sufficient reason against it, he ought
• 1:45:59
  to go. And it ended in his making a bold public declaration when he
• 1:46:04
  came in from shooting, of his meaning to dress directly and dine the other
• 1:46:10
  house. Nothing can be going on better than the child, said he.
• 1:46:14
  So I told my father just now that I would come, and he thought
• 1:46:16
  me quite right, your sister being with you, my love, I have
• 1:46:19
  no scruple at all. You would not like to leave him yourself. But
• 1:46:24
  you see I can be of no use, and will send for me if
• 1:46:27
  anything is the matter. Husbands and wives generally understand when opposition will be vain.
• 1:46:32
  Mary knew from Charles's manner of speaking that he was quite determined on going,
• 1:46:38
  and that it would be of no use to tease him. She said
• 1:46:41
  nothing therefore till he was out of the room, but as soon as there
• 1:46:45
  was only airn to hear. So you and I are to be left to
• 1:46:48
  shift by ourselves, with this poor sick child, and not a creature coming
• 1:46:53
  near us. All the evening I knew how it would be. This is
• 1:46:56
  always my luck. If there is anything disagreeable going on, men are always
• 1:47:00
  sure to get out of it. And Charles is as bad as any of
• 1:47:02
  them. Very unfeeling, I must say, it is very unfeeling of him
• 1:47:06
  to be running away from his poor little boy. Talks of his being going
• 1:47:10
  on so well. How does he know that he is going on so well,
• 1:47:14
  or that there may be not a sudden change half an hour. Hence
• 1:47:16
  I did not think Charles would have been so unfeeling. So here he is
• 1:47:19
  to go away and enjoy himself. And because I am the poor mother,
• 1:47:24
  I am not to be allowed to stir. And yet I am sure I
• 1:47:27
  am more unfit than anybody else to be about the child. My being the
• 1:47:30
  mother is the very reason why my feeling should not be tried. I'm not
• 1:47:33
  at all equal to it. You saw how hysterical I was yesterday, but
• 1:47:38
  that was only the effect of the suddenness of your alarm, of the shock.
• 1:47:42
  You will not be hysterical again, I daresay we shall have nothing to
• 1:47:45
  distress us. I perfectly understand mister Robinson's directions and have no fears. And
• 1:47:51
  indeed, Mary, I cannot wonder at your husband. Nursing does not belong
• 1:47:57
  to a man. It is not his province. A sick child is always
• 1:48:00
  the mother's property. Her own feelings generally make it so. I hope I
• 1:48:05
  am as fond of my child as any mother. But I do not know
• 1:48:09
  that I am of any more use in the sick room than Charles. For
• 1:48:11
  I cannot be always scolding and teasing the poor child when it is ill.
• 1:48:15
  And you saw this morning that if I taught him to keep quiet, he
• 1:48:18
  was sure to begin kicking about. I have not nerves for the sort of
• 1:48:21
  thing. But could you be comfortable yourself to be spending the whole evening away
• 1:48:26
  from the poor boy? Yes, you see, as Papa can, and
• 1:48:30
  why should not I? Jemima is so careful, and she could send us
• 1:48:33
  word every hour. How he was I really think Charles might as well have
• 1:48:36
  told his father we would all come. I am not more alarmed about little
• 1:48:41
  Charles now than he is. I was dreadfully alarmed yesterday, but the case
• 1:48:45
  is very different to day. Well, if you do not think it too
• 1:48:47
  late to give notice for yourself, suppose you were to go as well as
• 1:48:51
  your husband, leave little Charles to my care. Mister and missus Musgrove cannot
• 1:48:57
  think it wrong while I remain with him. Are you serious? Cried Mary,
• 1:49:01
  her eyes brightening. Dear me, that's a very good thought, very
• 1:49:05
  good indeed, to be sure, I may just as well go as not,
• 1:49:10
  for I am of no use at home, am I? And it
• 1:49:13
  only harasses me. You, who have not a mother's feelings, are a
• 1:49:16
  great deal the properest person you can make Little Charles do anything. He always
• 1:49:20
  minds you at a word. It will be a great deal better than leaving
• 1:49:24
  him only with Jemima. Oh, I shall certainly go. I am sure,
• 1:49:28
  I ought if I can quite as much as Charles. For they want
• 1:49:30
  me accessively to be acquainted with Captain Wentworth. And I know you do not
• 1:49:34
  mind being left alone an excellent thought of yours. Indeed, Anne, I
• 1:49:39
  will go and tell Charles and get ready directly. You can send for us,
• 1:49:42
  you know, at a moment's notice if anything is the matter. But
• 1:49:45
  I dare say there will be nothing to alarm you. I should not go.
• 1:49:48
  You may be sure if I do not feel quite at ease about my
• 1:49:51
  dear child. The next moment, she was tapping at her husband's dressing room
• 1:49:56
  door, and as Anne followed her upstairs, she I was in time for
• 1:50:00
  the whole conversation, which began with Mary's saying, in a tone of great
• 1:50:04
  exultation, I mean to go with you, Charles, for I am of
• 1:50:09
  no more use at home than you are. If I were to shut myself
• 1:50:12
  up forever with the child, I should not be able to persuade him to
• 1:50:15
  do anything he did not like. Anne will stay Anne and takes to stay
• 1:50:18
  at home and take care of him. It is Anne's own proposal, and
• 1:50:21
  so I shall go with you, which will be a great deal better,
• 1:50:25
  for I have not dined at the other house since Tuesday. This is very
• 1:50:28
  kind of Anne, was her husband's answer. And I should be very glad
• 1:50:31
  to have you go. But it seems rather hard that she should be left
• 1:50:34
  at home by herself to nurse our sick child. Anne was now at hand
• 1:50:39
  to take up her own cause, and the sincerity of her manner being soon
• 1:50:43
  sufficient to convince him. Where conviction was at least very agreeable, He had
• 1:50:47
  no farther scruples as to her being left to dine alone, though he still
• 1:50:51
  wanted her to join them in the evening, when the child might be at
• 1:50:55
  rest for the night, and kindly urged her to let him come and fetch
• 1:50:59
  her. She was quite unpersuadable, and this being the case, she had
• 1:51:03
  ere long the pleasure of seeing them set off together in high spirits. They
• 1:51:10
  were gone, she hoped to be happy, however oddly constructed such happiness might
• 1:51:15
  seem, as for herself she was left with as many sensations of comfort as
• 1:51:19
  were perhaps ever likely to be hers. She knew herself to be of the
• 1:51:25
  first utility to the child. And what was it to her if Frederick went
• 1:51:29
  with were only half a mile distant, making himself agreeable to others. She
• 1:51:33
  would have liked to know how he felt as to a meeting, Perhaps indifferent,
• 1:51:39
  if indifference could exist under such circumstances, he must be either indifference or
• 1:51:45
  unwilling. Had he wished ever to see her again, he need not have
• 1:51:48
  waited till this time. He would have done what she could not. But
• 1:51:53
  believe that in this place she should have done long ago, when events had
• 1:51:57
  been early, giving him the independence which alone had been wanting. Her brother
• 1:52:01
  and sister came back, delighted with their new acquaintance and their visit. In
• 1:52:05
  general. There had been music, singing, talking, laughing. All that
• 1:52:11
  was most agreeable, charming manners in Captain wentworth, no shyness or reserve.
• 1:52:16
  They seemed all to know each other perfectly, and he was coming the very
• 1:52:19
  next morning to shoot with Charles. He was to come to breakfast, but
• 1:52:25
  not at the cottage, though that had been proposed at first, But then
• 1:52:29
  he had been pressed to come to the great House instead, and he seemed
• 1:52:31
  afraid of being in Missus Charles Musgrove's way on account of the child. And
• 1:52:35
  therefore somehow they hardly knew how it ended in Charles's being to meet him at
• 1:52:42
  breakfast at his father's. Anne understood it. He wished to avoid seeing her.
• 1:52:47
  He had inquired after her. She found slightly as might suit a former
• 1:52:53
  slight acquaintance, seeming to acknowledge such as she had acknowledged, actuated perhaps by
• 1:52:58
  the same view of escaping intrance reduction. When they were to meet, the
• 1:53:01
  morning hours of the cottage were always later than those of the other house,
• 1:53:05
  and on the morrow the difference was so great that Mary and Anne were not
• 1:53:10
  more than beginning breakfast when Charles came in to say that they were just setting
• 1:53:14
  off, that he was come for his dogs, that his sisters were following
• 1:53:17
  with Captain Wentworth, his sisters meaning to visit Mary and the child, and
• 1:53:23
  Captain Wentworth proposing also to wait on her for a few minutes if not inconvenient,
• 1:53:29
  And though Charles had answered for the child's being in no such state as
• 1:53:31
  could make it inconvenient, Captain Wentworth would not be satisfied without his running on
• 1:53:36
  to give notice. Mary, very much gratified by this attention, was delighted
• 1:53:43
  to receive him, while a thousand feelings rushed on Anne, of which this
• 1:53:46
  was the most consoling, that it would soon be over, And it was
• 1:53:51
  soon over. In two minutes after Charles's preparation, the others appeared. They
• 1:53:57
  were in the drawing room, her eye met Captain Wentworth's a bow a Curtsey
• 1:54:02
  passed. She heard his voice. He talked to Mary, said that all
• 1:54:06
  was right, said something to the Miss Musgroves, enough to mark an easy
• 1:54:10
  footing. The room seemed full full of persons and voices. But a few
• 1:54:15
  minutes ended it. Charles shout himself at the window. All was ready.
• 1:54:20
  Their visitor had bowed and was gone. The Miss Musgroves were gone too,
• 1:54:26
  suddenly resolving to walk to the end of the village with the sportsman. The
• 1:54:30
  room was cleared, and Anne might finish her breakfast as she could. It
• 1:54:34
  is over, It is over, she repeated to herself again and again,
• 1:54:40
  in nervous gratitude. The worst is over. Mary talked, but she could
• 1:54:45
  not attend. She had seen him, they had met, they had been
• 1:54:50
  once more in the same room. Soon, however, she began to reason
• 1:54:56
  with herself and try to be feeling less. Eight years, almost eight years
• 1:55:01
  had passed since all had been given up. How absurd to be resuming the
• 1:55:05
  agitation which such an interval had banished into distance and indistinctness. What might not
• 1:55:13
  eight years do events of every description, changes, alienations, removals, All
• 1:55:19
  all must be comprised in it and oblivion of the past. How natural,
• 1:55:26
  how certain to it included nearly a third part of her own life. Alas,
• 1:55:31
  with all her reasoning, she found that to retentive feelings, eight years
• 1:55:36
  may be little more than nothing. Now, how were his sentiments to be
• 1:55:42
  read? Was this like wishing to avoid her? And the next moment she
• 1:55:45
  was hating herself for the folly which asked the question. On one other question
• 1:55:50
  which perhaps her utmost wisdom might not have prevented, She was soon spared all
• 1:55:56
  suspense, for after the miss Musgroves had returned and finished their visit at the
• 1:56:00
  cottage, she had this spontaneous information from Mary. Captain Wentworth is not very
• 1:56:06
  gallant by you, Anne, though he was so attentive to me. Henrietta
• 1:56:10
  asked him what he thought of you when they went away, and he said
• 1:56:13
  you were so altered he should not have known you. Again, Mary had
• 1:56:16
  no feelings to make her respect her sisters in a common way, but she
• 1:56:21
  was perfectly unsuspicious of being inflicting any peculiar wound alta beyond his knowledge. Anne
• 1:56:29
  fully submitted, in silent, deep mortification, doubtless it was so, and
• 1:56:34
  she could take no revenge, for he was not altered, ought not for
• 1:56:39
  the worse. She had already acknowledged it to herself, and she could not
• 1:56:44
  think differently, let him think of her as he would. No, the
• 1:56:47
  years which had destroyed her youth and bloom had only given him a more glowing,
• 1:56:53
  manly, open look, in no respect lessening his personal advantages. She
• 1:56:59
  had seen the Frederic Wentworth so altered that he should not have known her again.
• 1:57:04
  These were words which could not but dwell with her. Yet she soon
• 1:57:09
  began to rejoice that she had heard them. They were of sobering tendency.
• 1:57:14
  They allayed agitation, they composed, and consequently must make her happier. Frederic
• 1:57:20
  Wentworth had used such words, or something like them, but without an idea
• 1:57:25
  that they would be carried round to her. He had thought her wretchedly altered,
• 1:57:30
  and in the first moment of appeal, had spoken as he felt.
• 1:57:33
  He had not forgiven Anne Iliot. She had used him ill, deserted and
• 1:57:38
  disappointed him. And worse, she had shown a feebleness of character in doing
• 1:57:43
  so, which his own decided confident temper could not endure. She had given
• 1:57:47
  him up to oblige others. It had been the effect of over persuasion.
• 1:57:54
  It had been weakness and timidity. He had been most warmly attached to her,
• 1:57:59
  and had I'd never seen a woman sense whom he thought her equal.
• 1:58:02
  But except from some natural sensation of curiosity, he had no desire of meeting
• 1:58:08
  her again. Her power with him was gone forever. It was now his
• 1:58:14
  object to marry. He was rich, and being turned on shore, fully
• 1:58:19
  intended to settle as soon as he could be properly tempted, actually looking round,
• 1:58:25
  ready to fall in love with all the speed which a clear head and
• 1:58:28
  a quick taste could allow. He had a heart for either of the miss
• 1:58:31
  Musgroves, if they could catch it, The heart, in short, for
• 1:58:35
  any pleasing young woman who came in his way, accepting an elliot. This
• 1:58:41
  was his only secret exception when he said to his sister, in answer to
• 1:58:45
  her suppositions, yes here I am Sophia, quite ready to make a foolish
• 1:58:50
  match. Anybody between fifteen and thirty may have me for asking a little beauty
• 1:58:57
  and a few smiles, and a few compliments to the navy, And I
• 1:59:00
  am a lost man. Should not this be enough for a sailor who has
• 1:59:04
  no society among women to make him nice. He said it she knew to
• 1:59:10
  be contradicted. His bright, proud eye spoke the conviction that he was nice.
• 1:59:15
  And Anne Elliott was not out of his thoughts. When he more seriously
• 1:59:18
  described the woman he should wish to meet with a strong mind, with sweetness
• 1:59:25
  of manner, made the first and the last of the description. That is
• 1:59:30
  the woman I want, said he something a little inferior I shall of course
• 1:59:34
  put up with, but it must not be much. If I am a
• 1:59:39
  fool, I shall be a fool. Indeed, for I have thought on
• 1:59:42
  the subject more than most men. End of Chapter seven of Persuasion. Chapter
• 1:59:48
  eight of Persuasion. From this time Captain Wentworth and Anne Elliott were repeatedly in
• 1:59:55
  the same circle. They were soon dining in company together at mister Musgrove's,
• 2:00:00
  for the little boy's state could no longer supply his aunt with a pretense for
• 2:00:03
  absenting herself. And this was but the beginning of other dinings and other meetings.
• 2:00:11
  Whether former feelings were to be renewed must be brought to the proof.
• 2:00:15
  Former times must undoubtedly be brought to the recollection of each. They could not
• 2:00:18
  but be reverted to the year of their engagement could not but be named by
• 2:00:24
  him in the little narratives or descriptions which conversation called forth. His profession qualified
• 2:00:30
  him, his disposition led him to talk. And that was in the six
• 2:00:35
  that happened before I went to sea. In the six occurred in the course
• 2:00:41
  of the first evening they spent together. And though his voice did not falter,
• 2:00:45
  and though she had no reason to suppose his eyes wandering towards her while
• 2:00:48
  he spoke, Anne felt the utter impossibility, from her knowledge of his mind,
• 2:00:55
  that he could be unvisited by remembrance any more than herself. There must
• 2:01:00
  be the same immediate association of thought, though she was very far from conceiving
• 2:01:04
  it to be of equal pain. They had no conversation together, no intercourse,
• 2:01:11
  but what the commonest civility required, once so much to each other,
• 2:01:16
  now nothing. There had been a time when, of all the large party
• 2:01:21
  now filling the drawing room at up across, they would have found it most
• 2:01:25
  difficult to cease to speak to one another, with the exception perhaps of Admiral
• 2:01:30
  and missus Croft, who seemed perfectly attached and happy, and could allow no
• 2:01:34
  other exceptions. Even among the married couples, there could have been no two
• 2:01:39
  hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feeling so in unison,
• 2:01:44
  no countenances so beloved. Now they were as strangers. They worse than strangers,
• 2:01:50
  for they could never become acquainted. It was a perpetual estrangement. When
• 2:01:57
  he talked, she heard the same voice and discerned the same mind. There
• 2:02:01
  was a very general ignorance of all naval matters throughout the party, and he
• 2:02:06
  was very much questioned, and especially by the two Musgroves, who seemed hardly
• 2:02:11
  to have any eyes but for him, as to the manner of living on
• 2:02:15
  board, daily regulations, food hours, et cetera. And their surprise at
• 2:02:19
  his accounts at learning the degree of accommodation an arrangement which was practicable, drew
• 2:02:25
  from him some pleasant ridicule, which reminded Anne of the early days when she
• 2:02:30
  too had been ignorant, and she too had been accused of supposing sailors to
• 2:02:33
  be living on board without anything to eat, or any cooked dress, it
• 2:02:38
  if there were or any servant to wait, or any knife and fork to
• 2:02:42
  use. From thus, listening and thinking, she was roused by a whisper
• 2:02:47
  of Missus Musgroves, who overcome by fond regrets, could not help saying,
• 2:02:53
  Ah, miss Anne, if it had pleased Heaven to spare my poor son,
• 2:02:57
  I dare say he would have been just such another. By this time,
• 2:03:00
  Anne suppressed a smile and listened kindly, while missus Musgrove relieved her heart
• 2:03:04
  a little more, and for a few minutes therefore could not keep pace with
• 2:03:09
  the conversation of the others. When she could let her attention take its natural
• 2:03:14
  course again, she found the miss Musgroves just fetching the navy list, their
• 2:03:17
  own navy list, the first that had ever bended up across, and sitting
• 2:03:21
  down together to pore over it with the professed view of finding out the ships
• 2:03:26
  that Captain Wentworth had commanded. Your first was the ASP I remember, we
• 2:03:30
  will look for the ass You will not find her there, quite worn out
• 2:03:34
  and broken up. I was the last man to commanded her. Hardly fit
• 2:03:39
  for service, then reported fit for home service for year or two, and
• 2:03:43
  so I was sent off to the West Indies. The girls looked all amazement.
• 2:03:46
  The Admiralty, he continued, entertained themselves now and then with sending out
• 2:03:53
  a few hundred men to sea in a ship not fit to be employed.
• 2:03:57
  But they have a great minute to pride for the moong, the thousands that
• 2:04:00
  may just as well go to the bottom as not. It is impossible for
• 2:04:03
  them to distinguish the very set to me be least missed. Pooh pooh,
• 2:04:09
  cried the admiral. What stuff these young fellows talk. Never was a better
• 2:04:13
  sloop than the asp in her day. For an old built sloop you would
• 2:04:16
  not see her equal. Lucky fellow to get her, he knows there must
• 2:04:20
  have been twenty better men than himself applying for her at the same time.
• 2:04:26
  Lucky fellow to get anything so soon with no more interest than his. I
• 2:04:30
  felt my luck, Admiral, I assure you, replied Captain Wentworth. Seriously,
• 2:04:35
  I was as well satisfied with my appointment as you can desire. It
• 2:04:40
  was a great object with me at that time to be at sea, a
• 2:04:43
  very great object. I wanted to be doing something to be sure you did.
• 2:04:48
  What should a young fellow like you do ashore for half a year together?
• 2:04:54
  If a man had not a wife, he soon wants to be afloat
• 2:04:58
  again. But Captain Wentworth cried, Louisa, how vexed you must have been
• 2:05:01
  when you came off the Asp to see what an old thing they'd given you.
• 2:05:04
  I knew pretty well what she was before that day, certainly smiling.
• 2:05:09
  I had no more discoverage to make than you would have as to the fashion
• 2:05:13
  and strength of any old police which you had seen lent about among half the
• 2:05:16
  acquaintance ever since you could remember, and which at last, on some very
• 2:05:21
  wet day, is lent to yourself. She was a dear old Asp to
• 2:05:28
  me. She did all that I wanted, and I knew she would.
• 2:05:30
  I knew that we should either go to the bottom together or that she would
• 2:05:34
  be the making of me. And I never had two days of foul weather
• 2:05:38
  all the time I was at sea in her, And after taking privateers enough
• 2:05:42
  to be very entertaining, I had the good luck in my passage home the
• 2:05:45
  next autumn to fall in with the very French frigate I wanted. I brought
• 2:05:49
  her into Plymouth, and here another instance of luck. We had not been
• 2:05:55
  six hours in the sound when a gale came on, which lasted four days
• 2:05:59
  and night night, and which would have done for poor old Asp in half
• 2:06:02
  the time I would touch with the great nation. Not having much improved our
• 2:06:06
  condition, four and twenty hours later, and I should only have been a
• 2:06:11
  gallant Captain Wentworth in a small paragraph at one corner of the newspapers, and
• 2:06:16
  being lost in only a sloop, nobody would have thought about me, and
• 2:06:20
  shudderings were to herself alone. But the miss Musgroves could be as open as
• 2:06:26
  they were sincere in their exclamations of pity and horror. And so then,
• 2:06:30
  I suppose, said Missus Musgrove, in a low voice, as if thinking
• 2:06:33
  aloud. So then he went away to the Laconia, and there he met
• 2:06:39
  with our poor boy, Charles, my dear beckoning him to her, do
• 2:06:44
  ask Captain Wentworth, where it was he first met with your poor brother.
• 2:06:47
  I always forget it was a Gibraltar mother. I know Dick had been left
• 2:06:50
  ill at Gibraltar, with the recommendation from his former captain to Captain Wentworth.
• 2:06:56
  Oh but Charles tell Captain Wentworth he need not be afraid of mensha poor Dick
• 2:07:00
  before me, for it would be rather a pleasure to hear him talk of
• 2:07:03
  by such a good friend. Charles, being somewhat more mindful of the probabilities
• 2:07:08
  of the case, only nodded in reply and walked away. The girls were
• 2:07:13
  now hunting for the Laconia, and Captain Wentworth could not deny himself the pleasure
• 2:07:17
  of taking the precious volume into his own hands to save them the trouble,
• 2:07:21
  and once more read aloud the little statement of her name and rate and present
• 2:07:26
  non commissioned class, observing over it that she too had been one of the
• 2:07:30
  best friends man ever had. Ah, those were pleasant days when I had
• 2:07:35
  the Laconia. How fast I mean money in her A friend of mine and
• 2:07:40
  I had such a lovely cruise together off the Western Islands. Poor Harville sister,
• 2:07:45
  you know how much he wanted money Western myself. He had a wife,
• 2:07:49
  excellent fellow. I shall never forget his happiness. He felt it all
• 2:07:55
  so much for her sake. I wished for him again the next summer,
• 2:07:59
  when I was still the same lucky Mediterranean. And I am sure, sir,
• 2:08:03
  said missus Musgrove, it was a lucky day for us when you were
• 2:08:07
  put captain into that ship. We shall never forget what you did. Her
• 2:08:11
  feelings made her speak low, and Captain Wentworth, hearing only in part,
• 2:08:16
  and probably not having Dick Musgrove at all near his thoughts, looked rather in
• 2:08:20
  suspense, and as if waiting for more, my brother, whispered one of
• 2:08:24
  the girls. Am I was thinking of poor Richard, poor dear fellow,
• 2:08:28
  continued Miss Musgrove. He was grown so steady and such an excellent correspondent while
• 2:08:35
  he was under your care. Ah, it would have been a happy thing
• 2:08:37
  if he had never left you. I assure you, Captain Wentworth, we
• 2:08:41
  are very sorry he ever left you. There was a momentary expression in Captain
• 2:08:46
  Wentworth's face at this speech, a certain glance of his bright eye and curl
• 2:08:50
  of his handsome mouth, which convinced Anne that instead of sharing in Missus Musgrove's
• 2:08:56
  kind wishes as to her son, he had probably been at some pains to
• 2:09:00
  get rid of him, but it was too transient an indulgence of self amusement
• 2:09:05
  to be detected by any who understood him less than herself. In another moment,
• 2:09:09
  he was perfectly collected and serious, and almost instantly afterwards, coming up
• 2:09:15
  to the sofa on which she and missus Musgrove were sitting, took a place
• 2:09:18
  by the latter and entered into conversation with her in a low voice about her
• 2:09:22
  son doing it with so much sympathy and natural grace as showed the kindest consideration
• 2:09:28
  for all that was real and unabsurd in the parent's feelings. They were actually
• 2:09:33
  on the same sofa, for Missus Musgrove had most readily made room for him.
• 2:09:39
  They were divided only by Missus Musgrove. It was no insignificant barrier.
• 2:09:45
  Indeed, Missus Musgrove was of a comfortable, substantial size, infinitely more fitted
• 2:09:50
  by nature to express good cheer and good humor than tenderness and sentiment. And
• 2:09:56
  while the agitations of Anne's slender form and pensive face may be considered as very
• 2:10:01
  completely screened, Captain Wentworth should be allowed some credit for the self command with
• 2:10:05
  which he attended to her. Large fat sighings over the destiny of a son
• 2:10:11
  whom, alive nobody had cared for. Personal size and mental sorrow have certainly
• 2:10:18
  no necessary proportions. A large, bulky figure has as good a right to
• 2:10:22
  be in deep affliction as the most graceful set of limbs in the world.
• 2:10:26
  But fair or not fair, there are unbecoming conjunctions which reason will patronize in
• 2:10:33
  vain, which taste cannot tolerate, which ridicule will seize The Admiral after taking
• 2:10:39
  two or three refreshing turns about the room with his hands behind him, being
• 2:10:45
  called to order by his wife. Now came to Captain Wentworth, and without
• 2:10:48
  any observation of what he might be interrupting, thinking only of his own thoughts,
• 2:10:52
  began with if you had been a week later at Lisbon last spring,
• 2:10:56
  Frederick, you would have been asked to give the passage to Lady Mary Grierson
• 2:11:01
  and her daughters. Should I? I am glad I was not a week
• 2:11:07
  later? Then the Admiral abused him for his want of gallantry. He defended
• 2:11:11
  himself, though, professing that he would never willingly admit any ladies on board
• 2:11:16
  a ship of his, accepting for a ball or a visit which a few
• 2:11:20
  hours might comprehend. But if I know myself, said he, this is
• 2:11:26
  from no want of gallantry towards them. It is rather from feeling how impossible
• 2:11:31
  it is, with all one's efforts and all one's sacrifices, to make the
• 2:11:35
  accommodations on board such as women ought to have. There can be no want
• 2:11:41
  of gallantry, Admiral in rating the claims of women to every personal comfort high.
• 2:11:46
  And this is what I do I hate to hear of women on board,
• 2:11:50
  ought to see them on board, and no ship under my command shall
• 2:11:54
  ever convey a family of ladies anywhere if I can help it. This brought
• 2:11:58
  his sister upon him, Oh, Frederick, but I cannot believe it of
• 2:12:03
  you, all idle refinement. Women may be as comfortable on board as in
• 2:12:07
  the best house in England. I believe I have lived as much on board
• 2:12:11
  as most women, and I know nothing superior to the accommodations of a man
• 2:12:16
  of war. I declare I have not a comfort or indulgence about me,
• 2:12:20
  even at Kellynch Hall, with a kind bow to Anne, beyond what I
• 2:12:26
  always had in most of the ships I have lived in, and they have
• 2:12:30
  been five altogether. Nothing to the purpose, replied her brother. You were
• 2:12:35
  living with your husband and were the only women on board, But you yourself
• 2:12:39
  brought missus Harville, her sister, her cousin and three children round from Portsmouth
• 2:12:45
  to Plymouth. Where was the super fine, extraordinary sort of gallantry of yours?
• 2:12:50
  Then all merged in my friendship, Sophia. I would assist any brother
• 2:12:56
  officer's wife that I could, and I would bring anything of Harvill's from the
• 2:12:58
  world's end if he wanted it. But do not imagine that I did not
• 2:13:03
  feel it. An evil in itself depend upon it. They were all perfectly
• 2:13:07
  comfortable. I might not like them the better for that. Perhaps such a
• 2:13:11
  number of women and children have no right to be comfortable on board. My
• 2:13:16
  dear Frederick, you are talking quite idly. Pray what would become of us,
• 2:13:20
  poor sailor's wives, who often want to be conveyed to one port or
• 2:13:24
  another after our husband's if everybody had your feelings. My feelings, you see,
• 2:13:28
  did not prevent my taking Missus Harville and all her family to Plymouth.
• 2:13:33
  Oh but I hate to hear you talking so like a fine gentleman, and
• 2:13:37
  as if women were all fine ladies instead of rational creatures. We none of
• 2:13:41
  us expect to be in smooth water all of our days. Ah, my
• 2:13:45
  dear, said the admiral, when he had got a wife. He will
• 2:13:48
  sing a different tune when he is married. If we have the good luck
• 2:13:54
  to live to another war, we shall see him do as you and I
• 2:13:58
  and a great many have done. We shall have him very thankful to anybody
• 2:14:03
  that will bring him his wife. I thought we shall now I have done,
• 2:14:09
  cried Captain Wentworth when one's married, people begin to attack me with,
• 2:14:15
  oh, you will think very differently when you are married. I can only
• 2:14:18
  say no, I shall not, and then they say again, yes you
• 2:14:22
  will, and there is an end to it. He got up and moved
• 2:14:26
  away. What a great traveler you must have been, ma'am, said Missus
• 2:14:31
  Musgrove to Missus Croft. Pretty well, ma'am, in the fifteen years of
• 2:14:35
  my marriage, though many women have done more, I've crossed the Atlantic four
• 2:14:39
  times and have been once to the East Indies and back again, and only
• 2:14:43
  once besides being in different places about home, Cork and Libson and Gibraltar.
• 2:14:48
  But I never went beyond the streets, and never was in the West Indies.
• 2:14:52
  We do not call Bermuda or Bahama, you know, the West Indies.
• 2:14:56
  Missus Musgrove had not a word to say and descend. She could not
• 2:15:00
  accuse herself of ever having called them anything in the whole course of her life.
• 2:15:03
  And I do assure you, ma'am, pursued Missus Croft, that nothing
• 2:15:09
  can exceed the accommodations of a man of war. I speak, you know
• 2:15:13
  of the higher rates. When you come to a frigid of course, you
• 2:15:16
  are more confined, though any reasonable woman may be perfectly happy in one of
• 2:15:22
  them. And I can say safely that the happiest part of my life has
• 2:15:26
  been spent on board a ship. While we were together, you know,
• 2:15:31
  there was nothing to be feared. Thank God. I have always been blessed
• 2:15:35
  with excellent health, and no climate disagrees with me. A little disordered always
• 2:15:39
  the first twenty four hours of going to see, but never knew what sickness
• 2:15:45
  was afterwards. The only time I ever really suffered in body your mind was
• 2:15:50
  the only time that I ever fancied myself unwell or had any ideas of danger,
• 2:15:56
  was the winter that I passed by myself when the Admiral Captain Croft then
• 2:16:03
  was in the North Seas. I lived in perpetual fright at that time,
• 2:16:09
  and had all manner of imaginary complaints from not knowing what to do with myself.
• 2:16:13
  Oh when I should hear from him next? But as long as we
• 2:16:18
  could be together, nothing ever ailed me, and I never met with the
• 2:16:22
  smallest inconvenience. Aye, to be sure, yes, indeed, oh yes,
• 2:16:26
  I am quite of your opinion, Missus Croft. Was Missus Musgrove's hearty
• 2:16:31
  answer, There is nothing so bad as a separation. I am quite of
• 2:16:35
  your opinion. I know what it is for mister Musgrove always attends the assizes,
• 2:16:39
  and I am so glad when they are over and he is safe back
• 2:16:43
  again. The evening ended with dancing on its being proposed and offered her services
• 2:16:48
  as usual, and though her eyes would sometimes fill with tears as she sat
• 2:16:54
  at the instrument, she was extremely glad to be employed, and desired nothing
• 2:16:58
  in return. To be unobserved, it was a merry, joyous party,
• 2:17:03
  and no one seemed in higher spirits than Captain Wentworth. She felt that he
• 2:17:09
  had everything to elevate him, which general attention and deference, and especially the
• 2:17:13
  attention of all the young women could do the miss haters. The females of
• 2:17:18
  the family of cousins already mentioned were apparently admitted to the honor of being in
• 2:17:22
  love with him, And as for Henrietta and Louisa, they both seemed so
• 2:17:28
  entirely occupied by him that nothing but the continued appearance of the most perfect good
• 2:17:33
  will between themselves could have made it credible that they were not decided rivals.
• 2:17:39
  If he were a little spoilt by such universal, such eager admiration, who
• 2:17:45
  could wonder. These were some of the thoughts which occupied Anne while her fingers
• 2:17:50
  were mechanically at work, proceeding for half an hour together equally without error and
• 2:17:56
  without consciousness. Once she felt that he was looking at her, observing her
• 2:18:01
  altered features, perhaps trying to trace in them the ruins of the face which
• 2:18:05
  had once charmed him. And once she knew that he must have spoken of
• 2:18:09
  her. She was hardly aware of it till she heard the answer, But
• 2:18:13
  then she was sure of his. Having asked his partner whether miss Elliot never
• 2:18:16
  danced, the answer was, oh, no, never. She has quite
• 2:18:22
  given up dancing. She would rather play. She is never tired of playing.
• 2:18:28
  Once, too, he spoke to her. She had left the instrument
• 2:18:31
  on the dancing being over, and he had sat down to try to make
• 2:18:35
  out an air which he wished to give the Miss Musgroves an idea of.
• 2:18:39
  Unintentionally she returned to that part of the room, He saw her, and,
• 2:18:43
  instantly, rising said with studied politeness, I beg your pardon, madam,
• 2:18:50
  this is your seat, And though she immediately drew back with a decided
• 2:18:54
  negative, he was not to be induced to sit down again, and didn't
• 2:19:00
  wish for more of such looks and speeches, his cold politeness, his ceremonious
• 2:19:05
  grace were worse than anything. End of Chapter eight of Persuasion. Chapter nine
• 2:19:15
  of Persuasion. Captain Wentworth was come to kellynch As to a home to stay
• 2:19:20
  as long as he liked, being as thoroughly the object of the Admiral's fraternal
• 2:19:24
  kindness as of his wife's. He had intended, on first arriving to proceed
• 2:19:28
  very soon into Shrubshire and visit the brother settled in that country, but the
• 2:19:33
  attractions of Uppercross induced him to put this off. There was so much of
• 2:19:37
  friendliness, and of flattery, and of everything most bewitching in his reception there.
• 2:19:41
  The old were so hospitable, the young so agreeable, that he could
• 2:19:46
  not but resolve to remain where he was and take all the charms and perfections
• 2:19:50
  of Edward's wife upon credit. A little longer, it was soon Uppercross with
• 2:19:54
  him almost every day. The Musgroves could hardly be more ready to inv than
• 2:20:00
  he to come, particularly in the morning when he had no companion at home,
• 2:20:05
  for the Admiral and Missus Court were generally out of doors together, interesting
• 2:20:09
  themselves in their new possessions, their grass and their sheep, and dartling about
• 2:20:13
  in a way not endurable to a third person, or driving out in a
• 2:20:16
  gig lately added to their establishment. Hitherto there had been but one opinion of
• 2:20:22
  Captain Wentworth among the musgroves and their dependencies. It was unvarying warm admiration everywhere.
• 2:20:31
  But this intimate footing was not more than established when a certain Charles Hayter
• 2:20:35
  returned among them, to be a good deal disturbed by it, and to
• 2:20:39
  think Captain Wentworth very much in the way. Charles Hayter was the eldest of
• 2:20:43
  all the cousins, and a very amiable, pleasing young man, between whom
• 2:20:48
  and Henrietta there had been a considerable appearance of attachment. Previous to Captain Wentworth's
• 2:20:54
  introduction. He was in orders and having accuracy in the neighborhood where resided was
• 2:21:00
  not required, lived at his father's house, only two miles from Upper Cross.
• 2:21:05
  A short absence from home had left his fair one unguarded by his attentions
• 2:21:09
  at this critical period, and when he came back he had the pain of
• 2:21:13
  finding very altered manners, and of seeing Captain Wentworth missus Musgrove and missus Hayter
• 2:21:20
  were sisters. They had each had money, but their marriages had made a
• 2:21:24
  material difference in their degree of consequence. Mister Hayter had some property of his
• 2:21:28
  own, but it was insignificant compared with mister Musgrove's. And while the Musgroves
• 2:21:33
  were in the first class of society in the country, the young Haters would
• 2:21:37
  from their parents inferior, retired and unpolished way of living, and their own
• 2:21:43
  defective education, have been hardly in any class at all. But for their
• 2:21:46
  connection with Upper Cross. This eldest son, of course accepted who had chosen
• 2:21:52
  to be a scholar and a gentleman, and who was very superior in cultivation
• 2:21:56
  and manners to all the rest. The two family had always been on excellent
• 2:22:01
  terms, there being no pride on one side and no envy on the other,
• 2:22:05
  and only such a consciousness of superiority in the miss Musgroves has made them
• 2:22:09
  please to improve their cousins. Charles's attentions to Henrietta had been observed by her
• 2:22:15
  father and mother without disapprobation. It would not be a great match for her.
• 2:22:20
  But if Henrietta liked him, and Henrietta did seem to like him.
• 2:22:26
  Henrietta fully thought so herself before Captain Wentworth came, but from that time cousin
• 2:22:31
  Charles had been very much forgotten. Which of the two sisters was preferred by
• 2:22:37
  Captain Wentworth was as yet quite doubtful. As far as Anne's observation reached.
• 2:22:43
  Henrietta was perhaps the prettiest. Louisa had the higher spirits, and she knew
• 2:22:48
  not now whether the more gentle or the more lively character were most likely to
• 2:22:52
  attract him. Mister and Missus Musgrove, either from seeing little or from an
• 2:22:56
  entire confidence in the discretion of both their daughters, and of all the young
• 2:23:01
  men who came near them, seemed to leave everything to take its chance.
• 2:23:05
  There was not the smallest appearance of solicitude or remark about them in the mansion
• 2:23:09
  house, but it was different at the cottage. The young couple there were
• 2:23:13
  more disposed to speculate and wonder, and Captain Wentworth had not been above four
• 2:23:18
  or five times in the miss Musgrove's company, and Charles Hater had but just
• 2:23:22
  reappeared when Anne had to listen to the opinions of her brother and sister as
• 2:23:28
  to which was the one liked best. Charles gave it to Louisa Mary for
• 2:23:33
  Henrietta, but quite agreeing that to have him marry either could be extremely delightful.
• 2:23:39
  Charles had never seen a pleasanter man in his life, and from what
• 2:23:43
  he had once heard Captain Wentworth himself say, was very sure that he had
• 2:23:48
  not made less than twenty thousand pounds by the war. Here was a fortune
• 2:23:52
  at once, besides which there would be the chance of what might be done
• 2:23:56
  in any future war. And he was sure Captain Wentworth was as likely a
• 2:24:01
  man to distinguish himself as any officer in the navy. Oh, it would
• 2:24:05
  be a capital match for either of his sisters. Upon my word, it
• 2:24:09
  would, replied Mary, dear me, if he should rise to any very
• 2:24:13
  great honors, if he should ever be made a baronet. Lady Wentworth sounds
• 2:24:18
  very well. That would be a noble thing. Indeed, for Henrietta.
• 2:24:24
  She would take place of me then, And Henrietta would not dislike that.
• 2:24:28
  Sir Frederick and Lady Wentworth. It would be but a new creation, however,
• 2:24:33
  and I never think much of your new creations. It's you didn't marry
• 2:24:37
  best to think Henrietta the one preferred on the very account of Charles Hayter,
• 2:24:41
  whose pretensions she wished to see put an end to. She looked down very
• 2:24:45
  decidedly upon the haters, and thought it would be quite a misfortune to have
• 2:24:48
  the existing connection between the families renewed. Very sad for herself and her children,
• 2:24:54
  you know, said she, I cannot thank him at all a fit
• 2:24:58
  match for Henrietta. And considering the alliances which the Musgroves have made, she
• 2:25:03
  has no right to throw herself away. I do not think any young woman
• 2:25:05
  has a right to make a choice that may be disagreeable and inconvenient to the
• 2:25:09
  principal part of her family, and be giving bad connections to those who have
• 2:25:13
  not been used to them. And pray, who is Charles Hayter nothing but
• 2:25:18
  a country curate a most improper match for miss Musgrove of Upper Cross. Her
• 2:25:24
  husband, however, would not agree with her here, for besides having a
• 2:25:28
  regard for his cousin, Charles Hayter was an eldest son, and he saw
• 2:25:31
  things as an eldest son himself. Now you are talking nonsense, Mary,
• 2:25:35
  was therefore his answer. It would not be a great match for Henrietta,
• 2:25:39
  But Charles has a very fair chance through the spices for getting something from the
• 2:25:43
  Bishop in the course of a year or two. And you will please to
• 2:25:46
  remember that he is the eldest son. Whenever my uncle dies, he steps
• 2:25:50
  into very pretty property. The estate at Winthrop is not less than two hundred
• 2:25:54
  and fifty acres, besides the farm near Taunton, which is some of the
• 2:25:58
  best land in the country. I grant you that any of them but Charles,
• 2:26:01
  will be a very shocking match for Henrietta. And indeed it could not
• 2:26:05
  be. He is the only one that could be possible. But he is
• 2:26:09
  a very good natured, good sort of fellow, and whenever Winthrop comes into
• 2:26:13
  his hands, he will make a different sort of place of it, and
• 2:26:15
  live in a very different sort of way. And with that property he will
• 2:26:18
  never be a contemptible man good freehold property. No, no, Henrietta might
• 2:26:24
  do worse than marry Charles Hayter. And if she has him and Louisa can
• 2:26:28
  get Captain Wentworth, I shall be very well satisfied. Charles may say what
• 2:26:33
  he pleases, cried Mary to Anne as soon as he was out of the
• 2:26:35
  room. But it would be shocking to have Henrietta marry Charles Hayter a very
• 2:26:41
  bad thing for her, and still worse for me. And therefore it is
• 2:26:43
  very much to be wished that Captain Wentworth may soon put him quite out of
• 2:26:48
  her head, and I have very little doubt that he has. She took
• 2:26:50
  hardly any notice of Charles Hayter yesterday. I wish you had been there to
• 2:26:54
  see her behavior. And as to Captain Wentworth liking Louisa as well as Henrietta,
• 2:27:00
  it is nonsense to say so, for he certainly does like Henrietta a
• 2:27:03
  great deal the best. But Charles is so positive. I wish you had
• 2:27:09
  been with us yesterday, but then you might have decided between us, and
• 2:27:11
  I am sure you would have thought as I did, unless you had been
• 2:27:15
  determined to give against me. A dinner at mister Musgrove's had been the occasion
• 2:27:20
  when all these things should have been seen by Anne, but she had stayed
• 2:27:22
  at home, under the mixed plea of a headache of her own and some
• 2:27:26
  return of indisposition in little Charles. She had thought only of avoiding Captain Wentworth,
• 2:27:33
  but an escape of being appealed to as an umpire was now added to
• 2:27:37
  the advantages of a quiet evening as to captain Wentworth's views. She deemed it
• 2:27:43
  of more consequence that he should know his own mind early enough not to be
• 2:27:46
  endangering the happiness of either sister or impeaching his own honor, than that he
• 2:27:50
  should prefer Henrietta to Louisa, or Louisa to Henrietta. Either of them would
• 2:27:56
  in all probability make him an affectionate, good, dear, humored wife with
• 2:28:01
  regarded Charles Hater. She had delicacy which must be pained by any lightness of
• 2:28:05
  conduct in a well meaning young woman, and a heart to sympathize in any
• 2:28:09
  of the sufferings it occasioned. But if Henrietta found herself mistaken in the nature
• 2:28:15
  of her feelings, the alternation could not be understood. Too soon Charles Hayter
• 2:28:20
  had met with much to disquiet and mortify him in his cousin's behavior. She
• 2:28:26
  had too old a regard for him to be so wholly estranged as might in
• 2:28:30
  two meetings extinguish every past hope and leave him nothing to do but to keep
• 2:28:33
  away from Uppercross. But there was such a change as to become very alarming
• 2:28:39
  when such a man as Captain Wentworth was to be regarded as the probable cause.
• 2:28:43
  He had been absent only two Sundays, and when they pardoned, had
• 2:28:48
  left her interested even to the height of his wishes in his prospect of soon
• 2:28:52
  quitting his present curacy and obtaining that of Uppercross instead. It had then seemed
• 2:28:58
  the object nearest her heart that Doctor Shirley, the Rector, who for more
• 2:29:03
  than forty years had been zealously discharging all the duties of his office, but
• 2:29:07
  was now growing too infirm for many of them, should be quite fixed on
• 2:29:11
  engaging a curate, should make his cresy quite as good as he could afford,
• 2:29:15
  and should give Charles Hayter the promise of it, the advantage of his
• 2:29:20
  having to come only to Uppercross instead of going six miles another way, of
• 2:29:24
  his having in every respect a better cresy, of his belonging to the dear
• 2:29:28
  Doctor Shirley, and of good Doctor Shirley's being relieved from the duty which he
• 2:29:33
  could no longer get through without most injurious fatigue. Had been a great deal
• 2:29:39
  even to Louisa, but had been almost everything to Henrietta when he came back
• 2:29:45
  alas the zeal of the business was gone by. Louisa could not listen at
• 2:29:50
  all to his account of a conversation which she had just held with Doctor Shirley.
• 2:29:54
  She was at a window looking out for Captain Wentworth, and even Henrietta
• 2:29:58
  had at best only a divided attention to give, and seemed to have forgotten
• 2:30:01
  all the former doubts and solicitude of the negotiation. Well, I am very
• 2:30:07
  glad, indeed, but I always thought you would have it. I always
• 2:30:09
  thought you sure. It did not appear to me that, in short,
• 2:30:13
  you know, doctor Shirley must have a curate and you had secured his promise.
• 2:30:18
  Is he coming? Louisa? One morning, very soon after the dinner
• 2:30:22
  at the Musgroves, at which Anne had not been present, Captain Wentworth walked
• 2:30:26
  into the drawing room at the cottage, where were only herself and the little
• 2:30:31
  invalid Charles, who was lying on the sofa. The surprise of finding himself
• 2:30:35
  almost alone with Anne Elliot deprived his manners of their usual composure. He started
• 2:30:41
  and could only say, I thought the miss Musgroves had been here. Missus
• 2:30:46
  Musker told me I should find them here, before he walked to the window
• 2:30:50
  to recollect himself and feel how he ought to behave there upstairs with my sister.
• 2:30:56
  It will be down in a few moments. I day had been Anne's
• 2:30:58
  reply. In all the confusion that was natural, and if the child had
• 2:31:03
  not called her to come and do something for him, she would have been
• 2:31:05
  out of the room the next moment, and released Captain Wentworth as well as
• 2:31:09
  herself. He continued at the window, and after calmly and politely saying I
• 2:31:16
  hoped the little boy is better, was silent. She was obliged to kneel
• 2:31:20
  down by the sofa and remain there to satisfy her patient, and thus they
• 2:31:24
  continued a few minutes, when, to her very great satisfaction, she heard
• 2:31:28
  some other person crossing the little vestibule. She hoped on turning her head to
• 2:31:33
  see the master of the house, but it proved to be one much less
• 2:31:37
  calculated for making matters easy, Charles Hater, probably not at all better pleased
• 2:31:43
  by the side of Captain Wentworth than Captain Wentworth had been by the side of
• 2:31:48
  Anne. She only attempted to say, how to do? Will you not
• 2:31:52
  sit down? The others will be here presently. Captain Wentworth, however,
• 2:31:56
  came from his window, apparently not ill disposed for conversation, but Charles Hayter
• 2:32:01
  soon put an end to his attempts by seating himself near the table and taking
• 2:32:05
  up the newspaper, and Captain Wentworth returned to his window. Another minute brought
• 2:32:11
  another addition. The younger boy, a remarkable stout forward child of two years
• 2:32:18
  old, having got the door opened for him by some one without, made
• 2:32:22
  his determined appearance among them, and went straight to the sofa to see what
• 2:32:24
  was going on and put in his claim to anything good that might be giving
• 2:32:30
  away. There being nothing to eat, he could only have some play,
• 2:32:35
  And as his aunt would not let him tease his sick brother, he began
• 2:32:37
  to fasten himself upon her. As she knelt in such a way that busy
• 2:32:43
  as she was about Charles, she could not shake him off. She spoke
• 2:32:46
  to him, ordered, entreated, and insisted in vain. Once she did
• 2:32:52
  contrive to push him away, but the boy had the greater pleasure in getting
• 2:32:56
  upon her back again directly. Woot said she down this moment extremely troublesome.
• 2:33:03
  I'm very angry with you, Walter cried Charles Hater. Why do you not
• 2:33:07
  do as you are bid? Do you not hear your aunt speak, come
• 2:33:13
  to me, Walter, come to cousin Charles. But not a bit did
• 2:33:16
  Walter stir. In another moment, however, she found herself in the state
• 2:33:22
  of being released from him. Some one was taking him from her, though
• 2:33:24
  he had bent down her head so much that his little sturdy hands were unfastened
• 2:33:30
  from around her neck, and he was resolutely borne away. Before she knew
• 2:33:33
  that Captain Wentworth had done it. Her sensations on the discovery made her perfectly
• 2:33:39
  speechless. She could not even thank him. She could only hang over little
• 2:33:45
  Charles with most disordered feelings. His kindness in stepping forward to her relief,
• 2:33:50
  the manner, the silence in which it had passed, the little particulars of
• 2:33:54
  the circumstance which the conviction soon forced on her by the noise he was studiously
• 2:33:58
  making with the child that he meant to avoid hearing her thanks, and rather
• 2:34:01
  sought to testify that her conversation was the last of his wants. Produced such
• 2:34:07
  a confusion of varying but very painful agitation, as she could not recover from
• 2:34:11
  till enabled by the entrance of Mary and the Miss Musgroves to make over her
• 2:34:16
  little patient to their cares. And leave the room. She could not stay.
• 2:34:22
  It might have been an opportunity of watching the loves and jealousies of the
• 2:34:26
  four they were now altogether, but she could stay for none of it.
• 2:34:30
  It was evident that Charles Hater was not well inclined towards Captain Wentworth. She
• 2:34:35
  had a strong impression of his, having said, in a vexed tone of
• 2:34:39
  voice, after Captain Wentworth's interference, you ought to have minded me, Walter.
• 2:34:43
  I told you not to tease your aunt's and could comprehend his regretting that
• 2:34:48
  Captain Wentworth should do what he ought to have done himself. But neither Charles
• 2:34:52
  Hater's feelings, nor anybody's feelings, could interest her till she had a little
• 2:34:56
  better arranged her own. She was ashamed of herself, quite ashamed of being
• 2:35:01
  so nervous, so overcome by such a trifle. But so it was,
• 2:35:07
  and it required a long application of solitude and reflection to recover her. End
• 2:35:15
  of Chapter nine of Persuasion, Chapter ten of Persuasion, Other opportunities of making
• 2:35:22
  her observations could not fail to occur, And had soon been in company with
• 2:35:26
  all four together often enough to have an opinion, though too wise to acknowledge
• 2:35:31
  as much at home, where she knew it would have satisfied neither husband nor
• 2:35:35
  wife. For while she considered Louisa to be rather the favorite, she could
• 2:35:39
  not but think, as far as she might dare to judge from memory and
• 2:35:43
  experience, that Captain Wentworth was not in love with either. They were more
• 2:35:48
  in love with him. Yet there it was not love. It was a
• 2:35:52
  little fever of admiration, but it might probably must end in love with some.
• 2:35:58
  Charles Hays seemed aware of being slighted, and yet Henrietta had sometimes the
• 2:36:03
  air of being divided between them, and longed for the power of representing to
• 2:36:09
  them all what they were about, and of pointing out some of the evils
• 2:36:11
  they were exposing themselves to. She did not attribute guile to any It was
• 2:36:16
  the highest satisfaction to her to believe Captain Wentworth not in the least aware of
• 2:36:22
  the pain he was occasioning. There was no triumph, no pitiful triumph in
• 2:36:28
  his manner. He had probably never heard and never thought of, any claims
• 2:36:31
  of Charles Hater. He was only wrong in accepting the attentions. For accepting
• 2:36:37
  must be the word of two young women at once After a short struggle,
• 2:36:41
  however, Charles Hayter seems to quit the field. Three days had passed without
• 2:36:46
  his coming once to Uppercross, a most decided change. He had even refused
• 2:36:52
  one regular invitation to dinner, and having been found on the occasion by mister
• 2:36:56
  Musgrove with some large books before him, Mister and Missus Musgrove were sure all
• 2:37:00
  could not be right, and talked with grave faces of his studying himself to
• 2:37:05
  death. It was Mary's hope and belief that he had received a positive dismissal
• 2:37:11
  from Henrietta, and her husband lived under the constant dependence of seeing him tomorrow.
• 2:37:16
  Anne could only feel that Charles Hater was wise. One morning, about
• 2:37:22
  this time, Charles Musgrove and Captain Wentworth Being gone a shooting together. As
• 2:37:26
  the sisters in the cottage were sitting quietly at work, they were visited at
• 2:37:31
  the window by the sisters from the mansion house. It was a very fine
• 2:37:35
  November day, and the miss Musgroves came through the little grounds and stopped for
• 2:37:39
  no other purpose than to say that they were going to take a long walk,
• 2:37:43
  and therefore concluded Mary could not like to go with them. And when
• 2:37:46
  Mary immediately replied with some jealousy at not being supposed a good walker. Oh,
• 2:37:52
  yes, I should like to join you very much. I am very
• 2:37:56
  fond of a long walk. Anne, who felt persuaded by the looks of
• 2:37:58
  the two girls that it was precisely what they did not wish, and admired
• 2:38:03
  again the sort of necessity which the family habits seemed to produce, of everything
• 2:38:09
  being to be communicated and everything being to be done together. However undesired and
• 2:38:13
  inconvenient. She tried to dissuade Mary from going, but in vain and that
• 2:38:18
  being the case, thought it best to accept the Miss Musgrove's much more cordial
• 2:38:22
  invitation to herself to go, likewise, as she might be useful in turning
• 2:38:26
  back with her sister and lessening the interference in any plan of their own.
• 2:38:31
  I cannot imagine why they should suppose I should not like a long walk,
• 2:38:35
  said Mary as she went upstairs. Everybody is always supposing that I am not
• 2:38:39
  a good walker, and yet they would not have been pleased if we had
• 2:38:41
  refused to join them. When people come in this manner on purpose to ask
• 2:38:46
  us, how can one say no? Just as they were setting off the
• 2:38:50
  gentlemen returned. They had taken out a young dog who had spoilt their sport,
• 2:38:54
  and sent them back early. Their time and strength and spirits were therefore
• 2:38:58
  exactly ready for this walk, and they entered into it with pleasure. Could
• 2:39:03
  Anne have foreseen such a junction, she would have stayed at home, But
• 2:39:09
  from some feelings of interest and curiosity. She fancied now that it was too
• 2:39:13
  late to retract, and the whole six set forward together in the direction chosen
• 2:39:18
  by the Miss Musgroves, who evidently considered the walk as under their guidance.
• 2:39:22
  Anne's object was not to be in the way of anybody, and where the
• 2:39:26
  narrow paths across the fields made many separations necessary to keep with her brother and
• 2:39:31
  sister, her pleasure in the walk must arise from the exercise and the day,
• 2:39:37
  from the view of the last smiles of the year upon the tawny leaves
• 2:39:39
  and withered hedges, and from repeating to herself some few of the thousand poetical
• 2:39:45
  descriptions extent of autumn, that season of peculiar and inexhaustible influence on the mind
• 2:39:50
  of taste and tenderness, That season which had drawn from every poet worthy of
• 2:39:54
  being read some attempt at description, or some lines of feeling. She occupied
• 2:40:01
  her mind as much as possible in such like musings and quotations. But it
• 2:40:05
  was not possible that when within reach of Captain Wentworth's conversation with either of the
• 2:40:09
  miss Musgroves, she should not try to hear it. Yet she caught little
• 2:40:15
  very remarkable. It was merely live chat, such as any young person's on
• 2:40:20
  an intimate footing might fall into. He was more engaged with Louisa than with
• 2:40:24
  Henrietta. Louisa certainly put more forward for his notice than her sister. This
• 2:40:30
  distinction appeared to increase, and there was one speech of Louise's which struck her.
• 2:40:35
  After one of the many praises of the day, which were continually bursting
• 2:40:39
  forth, Captain Wentworth added, what glorious weather for the Admiral and my sister.
• 2:40:45
  They meant to take a long drive this morning. Perhaps we may hail
• 2:40:48
  them from some of these hills they talked of coming into this side of the
• 2:40:52
  country. I wonder whereabouts they will upset to day. Oh, it does
• 2:40:56
  happen very often, I assure you, But my sister makes nothing of it.
• 2:41:01
  She would ask leave be tossed out as not. Ah, you make
• 2:41:03
  the most of it, I know, cried Louisa. But if it were
• 2:41:07
  really so, I should do the same thing in her place. If I
• 2:41:11
  loved a man as she loves the Admiral, I would always be with him.
• 2:41:15
  Nothing should ever separate us, and I would rather be overturned by him
• 2:41:18
  than driven safely by anybody else. It was spoken with enthusiasm. Had you,
• 2:41:24
  cried he catching the same tone, I honor you. And there was
• 2:41:28
  silence between them for a little while. Anne could not immediately fall into a
• 2:41:35
  quotation again. The sweet scenes of autumn were for a while put by,
• 2:41:39
  unless some tender sonnet, fraught with the apt analogy of the declining year,
• 2:41:45
  with declining happiness, and the images of youth and hope and spring all gone
• 2:41:48
  together blessed her memory. She roused herself to say, as they struck by
• 2:41:54
  order into another path, is not this one of the ways to Winthrop?
• 2:41:58
  But nobody heard, or at least nobody answered her. Winthrop, however,
• 2:42:03
  or its environs, for young men are sometimes to be met with strolling about
• 2:42:09
  near home was their destination, and after another half mile of gradual ascent through
• 2:42:13
  large enclosures, where the plows at work and the fresh made path spoke the
• 2:42:18
  farmer, counteracting the suits of poetical despondents, and meaning to have spring again,
• 2:42:24
  They gained the summit of the most considerable hill, which parted up across
• 2:42:28
  at Winthrop, and soon commanded a full view of the latter. At the
• 2:42:31
  foot of the hill, on the other side Winthrop, without beauty and without
• 2:42:37
  dignity, was stretched before them an indifferent house, standing low and hemmed in
• 2:42:41
  by the barns and buildings of a farm yard. Mary exclaimed, bless me,
• 2:42:48
  here is Winthrop, I declare, I had no idea. Well,
• 2:42:52
  now I think we had better turn back. I am excessively tired. Henrietta,
• 2:42:56
  conscious and ashamed, and seeing no cousin child Arles walking along any path
• 2:43:01
  or leaning against any gate, was ready to do as Mary wished. But
• 2:43:05
  no, said Charles Musgrove, and now now cried Louisa, more eagerly,
• 2:43:11
  and taking her sister aside, seemed to be arguing the matter warmly. Charles,
• 2:43:16
  in the meanwhile, was very decidedly declaring his resolution of calling on his
• 2:43:20
  aunt, now that he was so near, and very evidently, though more
• 2:43:24
  fearfully trying to induce his wife to go too, But this was one of
• 2:43:30
  the points on which the lady showed her strength, and when he recommended the
• 2:43:33
  advantage of resting herself a quarter of an hour at Winthrop, as she felt
• 2:43:37
  so tired, she resolutely answered, oh no, Indeed, walking up that
• 2:43:43
  hill again would do her more harm than any sitting down could do her good.
• 2:43:46
  And in short, her look and manner declared that go she would not.
• 2:43:52
  After a little succession of these sort of debates and consultations, it was
• 2:43:56
  settled between Charles and his two sisters that he and Henrietta should just run down
• 2:44:01
  for a few minutes to see her aunt and cousins, while the rest of
• 2:44:05
  the party waited for them at the top of the hill. Louisa seemed the
• 2:44:09
  principal arranger of the plan, and as she went a little way with them
• 2:44:13
  down the hill, still talking to Henrietta, Mary took the opportunity of looking
• 2:44:18
  scornfully around her and saying to Captain Wentworth, it is very unpleasant having such
• 2:44:24
  connections, but I assure you I have never been in the house above twice
• 2:44:28
  in my life. She received no other answer than an artificial assenting smile,
• 2:44:33
  followed by a contemptuous glance as he turned away, which Anne perfectly knew the
• 2:44:37
  meaning of. The brow of the hill where they remained was a cheerful spot.
• 2:44:43
  Louisa returned, and Mary, finding a comfortable seat for herself on the
• 2:44:48
  step of a style, was very well satisfied so long as the others all
• 2:44:52
  stood about her. But when Louisa drew, Captain wentworth away to try for
• 2:44:56
  a gleaning of nuts in an adjoining hedgerow, and they were gone by degrees,
• 2:45:00
  quite out of sight and sound. Mary was happy no longer she quarreled
• 2:45:05
  with her own seat. Was sure Louisa had got much better somewhere, and
• 2:45:09
  nothing could prevent her from going to look for a better Also. She turned
• 2:45:13
  through the same gates, but could not see them. Anne found a nice
• 2:45:18
  seat for her on a dry, sunny bank under the hedgerow, in which
• 2:45:22
  she had no doubt of their still being in some spot or other. Mary
• 2:45:26
  sat down for a moment, but it would not do. She was sure
• 2:45:30
  Louisa had found a better seat somewhere else, and she would go on till
• 2:45:33
  she overtook her. Anne, really tired herself, was glad to sit down
• 2:45:39
  and She very soon heard Captain Wentworth and Louisa in the hedgerow behind her,
• 2:45:43
  as if making their way back along the rough, wild sort of channel down
• 2:45:48
  the center. They were speaking as they drew near. Louisa's voice was the
• 2:45:52
  first distinguished. She seemed to be in the middle of some eager speech.
• 2:45:56
  What Anne first heard was and so I made her go. I could not
• 2:46:01
  bear that she should be frightened from the visit by such nonsense. What would
• 2:46:07
  I be turned back by doing such a thing that I had determined to do,
• 2:46:11
  and that I knew to be right by airs and interference of such a
• 2:46:15
  person, or of any person. I may say now, I have no
• 2:46:20
  idea of being so easily persuaded. When I have made up my mind,
• 2:46:24
  I have made it. And Henrietta seemed entirely to have made up hers to
• 2:46:28
  call at Winthrop today, and yet she was as near giving it up out
• 2:46:33
  of nonsensical complaisance. She would have turned back then, but for you she
• 2:46:39
  would. Indeed, I am almost ashamed of it, happy for her to
• 2:46:43
  have such a mind as yours at hand. After the hints he gave just
• 2:46:48
  now, which did but confirm my own observations, the last time I was
• 2:46:52
  in company with him, I need not affect to have no comprehension of what
• 2:46:54
  is going on. I see that more than a mere dutiful morning visit to
• 2:46:58
  your aunt was in question. And woe betide him and her too, when
• 2:47:05
  it comes to things of consequence, when they are placed in circumstance requiring fortitude
• 2:47:09
  and strength of mind. If she have not resolution enough to resist idle interference
• 2:47:15
  in such a trifle as this, Your sister is an amiable creature. But
• 2:47:20
  yours is the character of decision and firmness. I see. If you value
• 2:47:24
  her conduct or happiness, infuse as much of your own spirit into her as
• 2:47:28
  you can. But this, no doubt you have been always doing. It
• 2:47:33
  is the worst evil of two yielding and indecisive, a character that no influence
• 2:47:37
  over it can be depended on. You are never sure of a good impression
• 2:47:41
  being durable. Everybody may sway it. Let those who would be happy be
• 2:47:46
  firm. Here is a knot, said he catching one down from an upper
• 2:47:52
  bough, to exemplify a beautiful glossy nut, which, blessed with original strength,
• 2:48:00
  has outlived all the storms of ottomn. Not the puncture, not the
• 2:48:03
  weak spot anywhere this nut, he continued, with playful solemnity, whilst so
• 2:48:09
  many of his brethren have fallen and been trodden on the foot, is still
• 2:48:13
  in possession of all the happiness that a hazel nut can be supposed capable of,
• 2:48:18
  then returning to his former earnest tone, My first wish for all whom
• 2:48:24
  I am interested in is that they should be firm. If Louisa Muskrow would
• 2:48:28
  be beautiful and happy in her November of life, she will cherish all her
• 2:48:33
  present powers of mind. He had done and was unanswered. It wouldn't have
• 2:48:39
  surprised Anne if Louisa could have readily answered such a speech, words of such
• 2:48:43
  interest, spoken with such serious warmth. She could imagine what Louisa was feeling
• 2:48:50
  for herself. She feared to move lest she should be seen. While she
• 2:48:54
  remained a bush of low rambling. Harley protected her, and they were moving
• 2:48:58
  on before they were beyond her hearing. However, Louisa spoke again. Mary
• 2:49:05
  is good natured enough in many respects, said she, but she does sometimes
• 2:49:09
  provoke me excessively by her nonsense and pride. The elliot pride. She has
• 2:49:15
  a great deal too much of the elliot pride. We do so wish that
• 2:49:18
  Charles had married Anne instead. I suppose you know he wanted to marry Anne.
• 2:49:24
  After a moment's pause, Captain Wentworth said, do you mean that she
• 2:49:28
  refused him? Oh? Yes, certainly. When did that happen? I
• 2:49:31
  do not exactly know, for Henrietta and I were at school at the time,
• 2:49:35
  but I believe it was about a year before he married Mary. I
• 2:49:41
  wish she had accepted him. We should have liked her a great deal better.
• 2:49:45
  And Papa and Mamma always think it was her great friend Lady Russell's doing
• 2:49:50
  that she did not. They think Charles might not be learned and bookish enough
• 2:49:54
  to please Lady Russell, and that therefore she persuaded Anne to refuse him.
• 2:50:00
  Were retreating, and Anne distinguished no more. Her own emotions still kept her
• 2:50:05
  fixed. She had much to recover from before she could move. The listener's
• 2:50:09
  proverbial fate was not absolutely hers. She had heard no evil of herself,
• 2:50:15
  but she had heard a great deal of very painful import She saw how her
• 2:50:20
  own character was considered by Captain Wentworth, and there had been just that degree
• 2:50:26
  of feeling and curiosity about her. In his manner which must give her extreme
• 2:50:31
  agitation. As soon as she could, she went after Mary, and,
• 2:50:35
  having found and walked back with her to the former station by the style,
• 2:50:39
  felt some comfort in the whole party being immediately afterwards collected and once more in
• 2:50:45
  motion together. Her spirits wanted the solitude and silence which only numbers could give.
• 2:50:52
  Charles and Henrietta returned, bringing, as may be conjectured, Charles Hater
• 2:50:56
  with them the minutia of the business. Anne could not attempt to understand.
• 2:51:01
  Even Captain Wentworth did not seem admitted to perfect confidence here, but that there
• 2:51:07
  had been a withdrawing on the gentlemen's side and a relenting on the ladies,
• 2:51:11
  and that they were now very glad to be together again did not admit a
• 2:51:16
  doubt. Henrietta looked a little ashamed, but very well pleased, Charles Hater
• 2:51:20
  exceedingly happy, and they were devoted to each other almost from the first instant
• 2:51:26
  of all their setting forward for Upper Cross. Everything now marked out Louisa for
• 2:51:31
  Captain Wentworth. Nothing could be plainer, And where many divisions were necessary,
• 2:51:37
  or even where they were not, they walked side by side nearly as much
• 2:51:41
  as the other two in a long strip of meadowland, where there was ample
• 2:51:45
  space for all. They were thus divided, forming three distinct parties, and
• 2:51:50
  to that party of the three which boasted least animation and least complaisance, and
• 2:51:54
  necessarily belonged. She joined Charles and Mary, and was tired enough to be
• 2:51:58
  very glad of Charles's other arm. But Charles, though in very good humor
• 2:52:03
  with her, was out of temper with his wife. Mary had shown herself
• 2:52:07
  disobliging to him and was now to reap the consequence, which consequence was his
• 2:52:13
  dropping her arm almost every moment to cut off the heads of some nettles in
• 2:52:18
  the hedge with his switch, and when Mary began to complain of it and
• 2:52:22
  lament her being ill used according to custom, in being on the hedge side,
• 2:52:26
  while Anne was never incommoded on the other, he dropped the arms of
• 2:52:31
  both to hunt after a weasel, which he had a momentary glance of,
• 2:52:35
  and they could hardly get him along at all. This long meadow boarded a
• 2:52:41
  lane which their footpath at the end of it was to cross, And when
• 2:52:45
  the party had all reached the gate of exit, the carriage advancing in the
• 2:52:48
  same direction which had been some time heard was just coming up and proved to
• 2:52:52
  be Admiral Croft's gig. He and his wife had taken their intended drive and
• 2:52:58
  were returning home. Upon hearing how long a walk the young people had engaged
• 2:53:03
  in, they kindly offered a seat to any lady who might be particularly tired.
• 2:53:07
  It would save her a full mile, and they were going through Uppercross.
• 2:53:11
  The invitation was general and generally declined. The miss Musgroves were not at
• 2:53:16
  all tired, and Mary was either offended by not being asked before any of
• 2:53:20
  the others, or what Louisa called the Elliot pride, could not endure to
• 2:53:24
  make a third in a one horse chaise. The walking party had crossed the
• 2:53:30
  lane and were surmounting an opposite style, and the Admiral was putting his horse
• 2:53:33
  in motion again when Captain Wentworth cleared the hedge in a moment to say something
• 2:53:37
  to his sister. The something might be guessed by its effects. Miss Elliot,
• 2:53:43
  I am sure you are tired, cried missus Croft. Do let us
• 2:53:46
  have the pleasure of taking you home. Here's excellent room for three. I
• 2:53:52
  assure you, if we were all like you, I believe we might sit
• 2:53:56
  full you must, Indeed you must. Anne was ill in the lane,
• 2:54:01
  and though instinctively beginning to decline, she was not allowed to proceed. The
• 2:54:05
  Admiral's kind urgency came in support of his wife's. They would not be refused.
• 2:54:11
  They compressed themselves into the smallest possible space to leave her a corner,
• 2:54:16
  and Captain Wentworth, without saying a word, turned to her and quietly obliged
• 2:54:20
  her to be assisted into the carriage. Yes, he had done it.
• 2:54:26
  She was in the carriage, and felt that he had placed her there,
• 2:54:30
  that his will and his hands had done it. That she owed it to
• 2:54:33
  his perception of her fatigue and his resolution to give her rest. She was
• 2:54:39
  very much affected by the view of his disposition towards her, which all these
• 2:54:43
  things made apparent. This little circumstance seemed the completion of all that had gone
• 2:54:48
  before. She understood him. He could not forgive her, but he could
• 2:54:54
  not be unfeeling, though condemning her for the past and considering it with high
• 2:54:58
  and unjust resentment, though perfectly careless of her, and though becoming attached to
• 2:55:03
  another, still he could not see her suffer without the desire of giving her
• 2:55:09
  relief. He was a remainder of former sentiment. It was an impulse of
• 2:55:13
  pure, though unacknowledged friendship. It was a proof of his own warm and
• 2:55:18
  amiable heart, which she could not contemplate without emotions so compounded of pleasure and
• 2:55:24
  pain that she knew not which prevailed her answers to the kindness and the remarks
• 2:55:31
  of her companions were at first unconsciously given. They had traveled half their way
• 2:55:35
  along the rough lane before she was quite awake to what they said. She
• 2:55:39
  then found them talking of Frederick. He certainly means to have one or other
• 2:55:45
  of those two girls, Sophy, said the admiral. But there's no sane
• 2:55:50
  which he has been running after them too long enough, one would think to
• 2:55:54
  make up his mind. Ay, this comes of the peace. If it
• 2:56:01
  were war now, he would have settled it long ago. We sailors,
• 2:56:05
  miss Elliot, cannot afford to make long courtships in time of war. How
• 2:56:11
  many days was it, my dear, between the first time of my seeing
• 2:56:13
  you and are sitting down together in our lodgings at North Yarmouth. We had
• 2:56:18
  better not talk about it, my dear, replied missus Croft pleasantly. For
• 2:56:24
  if miss Elliot were to hear how soon we came to an understanding, she
• 2:56:28
  would never be persuaded that we could be happy together. I had known you
• 2:56:31
  by character, however, long before well, I had heard of you as
• 2:56:37
  a very pretty girl. And what were we to wait for? Besides,
• 2:56:41
  I do not like having such things so long in hand. I wish Frederick
• 2:56:46
  would spread a little more canvas and bring us home one of these young ladies
• 2:56:50
  to Kellynch. Then there would always be company for them. And very nice
• 2:56:56
  young ladies they both are. I hardly know one from the very good humored,
• 2:57:01
  unaffected girls. Indeed, said missus Croft in a tone of calmer praise,
• 2:57:07
  such as made Anne suspect that her keener powers might not consider either of
• 2:57:11
  them as quite worthy of her brother and a very respectable family. One could
• 2:57:16
  not be connected with better people, My dear Admiral, that post we shall
• 2:57:22
  certainly take that post. But by coolly giving the Reins a better direction herself,
• 2:57:28
  they happily passed the danger, and by once afterwards judiciously putting out her
• 2:57:33
  hand, they neither fell into a rut nor ran foul of a dunk cart.
• 2:57:37
  And Anne with some amusement at their style of driving, which she imagined
• 2:57:41
  no bad representation of the general guidance of their affairs, found herself safely deposited
• 2:57:48
  by them at the cottage end of Chapter ten of Persuasion Chapter eleven of Persuasion.
• 2:57:58
  The time now approached for Lady Russell's return. The day was even fixed,
• 2:58:03
  and Anne, being engaged to join her as soon as she was resettled,
• 2:58:09
  was looking forward to an early removal to Kellynch, and beginning to think
• 2:58:13
  how her own comfort was likely to be effected by it. It would place
• 2:58:16
  her in the same village with Captain Wentworth, within half a mile of him.
• 2:58:20
  They would have to frequent the same church, and there must be intercourse
• 2:58:24
  between the two families. This was against her, But on the other hand,
• 2:58:30
  he spent so much of his time at Uppercross that in removing fence she
• 2:58:35
  might be considered rather as leaving him behind than as going towards him. And
• 2:58:39
  upon the whole she believed she must, on this interesting question, be the
• 2:58:43
  gainer almost as certainly as in her change of domestic society. In leaving poor
• 2:58:48
  Mary for Lady Russell, she wished it might be possible for her to avoid
• 2:58:54
  ever seeing Captain Wentworth at the hall. Those rooms had witnessed former meetings which
• 2:58:58
  would be brought too painfully before her. But she was yet more anxious for
• 2:59:03
  the possibility of Lady Russell and Captain Wentworth never meeting anywhere. They did not
• 2:59:09
  like each other, and no renewal of acquaintance now could do any good.
• 2:59:13
  And were Lady Russell to see them together, she might think that he had
• 2:59:18
  too much self possession and she too little. These points formed her chief solicitude
• 2:59:24
  in anticipating her removal from Uppercross, where she felt she had been stationed quite
• 2:59:28
  long enough. Her usefulness to Little Charles would always give some sweetness to the
• 2:59:33
  memory of her two months visit there, But he was gaining strength apace when
• 2:59:37
  she had nothing else to stay for. The conclusion of her visit, however,
• 2:59:43
  was diversified in a way which she had not at all imagined. Captain
• 2:59:46
  Wentworth, after being unseen and unheard of at Uppercross for two whole days,
• 2:59:52
  appeared again among them, just to justify himself by a relation of what had
• 2:59:56
  kept him away, And letter from his friend Captain Harville, having found him
• 3:00:01
  at last, had brought intelligence of Captain Harville's being settled with his family at
• 3:00:05
  Lyme for the winter of their being therefore quite unknowingly within twenty miles of each
• 3:00:11
  other. Captain Harville had never been in good health since a severe wound which
• 3:00:16
  he received two years before, and Captain Wentworth's anxiety to see him had determined
• 3:00:22
  him to go immediately to Lyme. He had been there for four and twenty
• 3:00:26
  hours. His acquittal was complete, his friendship warmly honored, a lively interest
• 3:00:31
  excited by his friend, and his description of the fine country about Lyme so
• 3:00:35
  feelingly attended to by the party that an earnest desire to see Lyme themselves,
• 3:00:41
  and a project for going thither was the consequence. The young people were all
• 3:00:46
  wild to see Lyme. Captain Wentworth talked of going there again himself. It
• 3:00:52
  was only seventeen miles from Uppercross, though November, the weather was by no
• 3:00:56
  means bad, and in short, Louisa, who was the most eager of
• 3:01:01
  the eager, having formed the resolution to go, and besides the pleasure of
• 3:01:05
  doing as she liked, being now armed with the idea of merit in maintaining
• 3:01:09
  her own way, bore down all the wishes of her father and mother for
• 3:01:13
  putting it off. Till summer, and to Lyme they were to go Charles,
• 3:01:18
  Mary, Anne, Henrietta, Louisa and Captain Wentworth. The first heedless
• 3:01:24
  scheme had been to go in the morning and return at night, but to
• 3:01:28
  this mister Musgrove, for the sake of his horses, would not consent,
• 3:01:31
  and when it came to be rationally considered a day in the middle of November
• 3:01:35
  would not leave much time for seeing a new place. After deducting seven hours
• 3:01:39
  as the nature of the country required for going and returning, they were consequently
• 3:01:45
  to stay the night there and not to be expected back till the next day's
• 3:01:48
  dinner. This was felt to be a considerable amendment, and though they all
• 3:01:54
  met at the Great House at rather an early breakfast hour and set off very
• 3:01:58
  punctually, it was so much past noon before the two carriages mister Musgrove's coach
• 3:02:03
  containing the four ladies and Charles's curricle in which he drove Captain Wentworth, were
• 3:02:07
  descending the long hill into Lyme and entering upon the still steeper street of the
• 3:02:13
  town itself, that it was very evident that they would not have more than
• 3:02:16
  time for looking about them before the light and the warmth of the day were
• 3:02:20
  gone. After securing accommodations and ordering a dinner at one of the inns,
• 3:02:26
  the next thing to be done was unquestionably to walk directly down to the sea.
• 3:02:31
  They were come too late in the year for any amusement or variety which
• 3:02:35
  lyme as a public place might offer. The rooms were shut up, the
• 3:02:41
  lodgers almost all gone. Scarcely any family but of the residence left, and
• 3:02:46
  as there is nothing to admire in the buildings themselves, the remarkable situation of
• 3:02:50
  the town, the principal street almost hurrying into the water, the walk to
• 3:02:54
  the cob skirting round the pleasant little bay, which in the season is animal
• 3:03:00
  made it with bathing machines and company. The carb itself, its old wonders
• 3:03:03
  and new improvements, with the very beautiful line of cliffs stretching out to the
• 3:03:07
  east of the town, are what the stranger's eye will seek, And a
• 3:03:11
  very strange stranger it must be. It does not see charms in the immediate
• 3:03:16
  environs of Lime to make him wish to know it better. The seas in
• 3:03:20
  its neighborhood, Charmuth, with its high grounds and extensive sweeps of country,
• 3:03:26
  and still more its sweet retired bay, backed by dark cliffs, where fragments
• 3:03:31
  of low rock among the sands make it the happiest spot for watching the flow
• 3:03:35
  of the tide, for sitting in unwearied contemplation, the woody varieties of the
• 3:03:39
  cheerful village of Uplime, and above all Pinny, with its green chasms between
• 3:03:46
  romantic rocks, where the scattered forest trees and orchards of luxuriant growth declare that
• 3:03:52
  many a generation must have passed away since the first partial falling of the cliff
• 3:03:56
  prepared the ground for such a state. Were a scene so one, wonderful
• 3:04:00
  and so lovely as exhibited as may more than equal any of the resembling scenes
• 3:04:05
  of the far famed Isle of Wight, these places must be visited and visited
• 3:04:09
  again to make the worth of lyme understood. The party from Upper Cross,
• 3:04:16
  passing down by the now deserted and melancholy looking rooms, and still descending,
• 3:04:20
  soon found themselves on the sea shore and lingering only as all must linger and
• 3:04:26
  gaze on a first return to the sea. Whoever deserved to look on it
• 3:04:30
  at all, proceeded towards the cob equally their object in itself, and on
• 3:04:35
  Captain Wentworth's account, for in a small house near the foot of an old
• 3:04:39
  peer of unknown date, were the Harvilles settled. Captain Wentworth turned in to
• 3:04:45
  call on his friend. The others walked on, and he was to join
• 3:04:48
  them on the cob. They were, by no means tired of wondering and
• 3:04:54
  admiring, and not even Louisa seemed to feel that they had parted with Captain
• 3:04:58
  Wentworth long when they saw saw him coming after them with three companions, all
• 3:05:03
  well known already by description to be Captain and Missus Harville, and a Captain
• 3:05:07
  Benwick, who was staying with them. Captain Benwick had some time ago been
• 3:05:13
  first Lieutenant of the Laconia, and the account which Captain Wentworth had given of
• 3:05:18
  him on his return from Lyme before, his warm praise of him as an
• 3:05:22
  excellent young man and an officer whom he had always valued highly, which must
• 3:05:26
  have stamped him well in the esteem of every listener, had been followed by
• 3:05:30
  a little history of his private life, which rendered him perfectly interesting in the
• 3:05:33
  eyes of all the ladies. He had been engaged to Captain Harville's sister,
• 3:05:39
  and was now mourning her loss. They had been a year or two waiting
• 3:05:45
  for fortune and promotion. Fortune came, his prize money as lieutenant being great.
• 3:05:50
  Promotion too came at last, but Fanny Harville did not live to know
• 3:05:54
  it. She had died the preceding summer while he was at sea. Captain
• 3:06:00
  Wentworth believed it impossible for man to be more attached to woman than poor Benwick
• 3:06:03
  had been to Fanny Harville, or to be more deeply afflicted upon the dreadful
• 3:06:09
  change. He considered his disposition as of the sort which must suffer heavily,
• 3:06:13
  uniting very strong feelings with quiet, serious and retiring manners, and a decided
• 3:06:20
  taste for reading and sedentary pursuits to finish the interest of the story. The
• 3:06:24
  friendship between him and the Harvilles seemed, if possible, augmented by the event
• 3:06:30
  which caused all their views of alliance, and Captain Benwick was now living with
• 3:06:35
  them entirely. Captain Harville had taken his present house for half a year,
• 3:06:39
  his taste and his health and his fortune all directing him to a residence inexpensive
• 3:06:46
  and by the sea, and the grandeur of the country, and the retirement
• 3:06:50
  of Lyme in the winter appeared exactly adapted to Captain Benwick's state of mind.
• 3:06:54
  The sympathy and good will excited towards Captain Benwick was very great, and yet
• 3:07:01
  said Dane to herself, as they now moved forward to meet the party,
• 3:07:05
  he has not perhaps a more sorrowing heart than I have. I cannot believe
• 3:07:09
  his prospects so blighted. Forever he is younger than I am, younger and
• 3:07:13
  feeling, if not in fact younger as a man, he will rally again
• 3:07:18
  and be happy with another. They all met and were introduced. Captain Harville
• 3:07:24
  was a tall, dark man with a sensible, benevolent countenance, a little
• 3:07:28
  lame and from strong features and want of health, looking much older than Captain
• 3:07:33
  Wentworth. Captain Benwick looked and was the youngest of the three, and compared
• 3:07:39
  with either of them, a little man. He had a pleasing face and
• 3:07:43
  a melancholy air, just as he ought to have, and drew back from
• 3:07:46
  conversation. Captain Harville, though not equaling Captain Wentworth in manners, was a
• 3:07:52
  perfect gentleman, unaffected, warm and obliging. Missus Harville, a degree less
• 3:07:58
  polished than her husband, seemed however, to have the same good feelings,
• 3:08:01
  and nothing could be more pleasant than their desire of considering the whole party as
• 3:08:07
  friends of their own. Because the friends of Captain Wentworth or more kindly hospitable
• 3:08:11
  than their treaties for their all promising to dine with them. The dinner already
• 3:08:16
  ordered at the inn, was at last, though unwillingly accepted as an excuse.
• 3:08:22
  But they seemed almost hurt that Captain Wentworth should have brought any such party
• 3:08:26
  to Lyme without considering it as a thing of course that they should dine with
• 3:08:31
  them. There was so much attachment to Captain Wentworth in all this, and
• 3:08:35
  such a bewitching charm, and a degree of hospitality so uncommon, so unlike
• 3:08:39
  the usual style of give and take invitations and dinners of formality and display,
• 3:08:45
  that Anne felt her spirits not likely to be benefited by an increasing acquaintance among
• 3:08:50
  his brother officers. Would have been all my friends, was her thought,
• 3:08:54
  and she had to struggle against a great tendency to lowness. On quitting the
• 3:09:00
  cob they all went indoors with their new friends and found rooms so small as
• 3:09:05
  none but those who invite from the heart could think capable of accommodating. So
• 3:09:09
  many. Anne had a moment's astonishment on the subject herself, but it was
• 3:09:13
  soon lost in the pleasanter feelings which sprang from the sight of all the ingenious
• 3:09:18
  contrivances and nice arrangements of Captain Harville to turn the actual space to the best
• 3:09:22
  account, to supply the deficiencies of lodging house furniture, and defend the windows
• 3:09:28
  and doors against the winter storms to be expected. The varieties in the fitting
• 3:09:33
  up of the rooms, where the common necessaries provided by the owner in the
• 3:09:37
  common indifferent plight, were contrasted with some few articles of a rare species of
• 3:09:41
  wood excellently worked up, and with something curious and valuable from all the distant
• 3:09:46
  countries Captain Harville had visited, were more than amusing to Anne, Connected as
• 3:09:52
  it all was with his profession, the fruit of his labors, the effect
• 3:09:56
  of its influence on his habits, the picture of repose and domestic happiness it
• 3:10:01
  presented, made it to her a something more or less than gratification. Captain
• 3:10:07
  Harville was no reader, but he had contrived excellent accommodations and fashioned very pretty
• 3:10:13
  shelves for a tolerable collection of well bound volumes. The property of Captain Benwick.
• 3:10:18
  His lameness prevented him from taking much exercise, but a mind of usefulness
• 3:10:24
  and ingenuity seemed to furnish him with constant employment. Within he drew, he
• 3:10:28
  varnished, he carpentered, he glued, He made toys for the children.
• 3:10:33
  He fashioned new netting, needles and pins with improvements, and if everything else
• 3:10:37
  was done, sat down to his large fishing net at one corner of the
• 3:10:41
  room. Anne thought she left great happiness behind her when they quitted the house,
• 3:10:48
  and Louisa, by whom she found herself walking, burst forth into raptures
• 3:10:52
  of admiration and delight on the character of the navy, their friendliness, their
• 3:10:56
  brotherliness, their openness, their uprightness, protesting that she was convinced of sailors
• 3:11:01
  having more worth and warmth than any other set of men in England, and
• 3:11:07
  that they only knew how to live, and they only deserved to be respected
• 3:11:11
  and loved. They went back to dress and dine, and so well had
• 3:11:15
  the scheme answered already that nothing was found amiss, though its being so entirely
• 3:11:20
  out of season, and the no thoroughfare of line and the no expectation of
• 3:11:24
  company had brought many apologies from the heads of the inn, and found herself,
• 3:11:30
  by this time growing so much more hardened to being in Captain Wentworth's company
• 3:11:33
  than she had at first imagined. Could ever be that the sitting down to
• 3:11:37
  the same table with him now, and the interchange of the common civilities attending
• 3:11:41
  on it they never got beyond, was becoming a mere nothing. The nights
• 3:11:46
  were too dark for the ladies to meet again till the morrow, but Captain
• 3:11:50
  Harville had promised them a visit in the evening, and he came bringing his
• 3:11:54
  friend also, which was more than had been expected. It having been agreed
• 3:11:58
  that and Benwick had all the appearance of being oppressed by the presence of so
• 3:12:03
  many strangers. He ventured among them again, however, though his spirits certainly
• 3:12:07
  did not seem fit for the mirth of the party in general. While Captains
• 3:12:11
  Wentworth and Harville led the talk on one side of the room, and by
• 3:12:16
  recurring to former days, supplied anecdotes in abundance to occupy and entertain the others,
• 3:12:20
  it fell to ann'slot to be placed rather apart with Captain Benwick, and
• 3:12:24
  a very good impulse of her nature obliged her to begin an acquaintance with him.
• 3:12:31
  He was shy and disposed to abstraction, but the engaging mildness of her
• 3:12:35
  countenance and the gentleness of her manners soon had their effect, and Anne was
• 3:12:41
  well repaid the first trouble of exertion. He was evidently a young man of
• 3:12:45
  considerable taste in reading, though principally in poetry, And besides the persuasion of
• 3:12:50
  having given him at least an evening's indulgence in the discussion of subjects which his
• 3:12:54
  usual companions had probably no concern in, she had the hope of being of
• 3:12:58
  real use to him in some suggestions as to the duty and benefit of struggling
• 3:13:03
  against affliction, which had naturally grown out of their conversation. For though shy
• 3:13:09
  he did not seem reserved. It had rather the appearance of feelings glad to
• 3:13:15
  burst their usual restraints. And having talked of poetry, the richness of the
• 3:13:20
  present age, and gone through a brief comparison of opinion as to the first
• 3:13:24
  rate poets, trying to ascertain whether Marmion or the Lady of the Lake were
• 3:13:28
  to be preferred, and how ranked the jour and the Bride of Abydos,
• 3:13:31
  And moreover, how the jour was to be pronounced. He showed himself so
• 3:13:37
  intimately acquainted with all the tenderest songs of the one poet, and all the
• 3:13:41
  impassioned descriptions of hopeless agony of the other. He repeated with such tremulous feeling
• 3:13:46
  the various lines which imaged a broken heart or a mind destroyed by wretchedness,
• 3:13:52
  and looked so entirely as if he meant to be understood that she ventured to
• 3:13:58
  hope he did not always read only poetry, and to say that she thought
• 3:14:01
  it was the misfortune of poetry to be seldom safely enjoyed by those who enjoyed
• 3:14:07
  it completely, and that the strong feelings which alone could estimate it truly with
• 3:14:11
  the very feelings which ought to taste it. But sparingly his looks showing him
• 3:14:16
  not pained but pleased with this allusion to his situation, she was emboldened to
• 3:14:22
  go on, and, feeling in herself the right of seniority of mind,
• 3:14:26
  she ventured to recommend a large allowance of prose in his daily study, and,
• 3:14:30
  on being requested to particularize mention such works of our best moralists, such
• 3:14:35
  collections of the finest letters such memoirs of characters of worth and suffering, as
• 3:14:41
  occurred to her at the moment, as calculated to rouse and fortify the mind
• 3:14:46
  by the highest precepts and the strongest examples of moral and religious endurances. Captain
• 3:14:52
  Benwick listened attentively and seemed grateful for the interest implied, and, though with
• 3:14:56
  a shake of the head and sighs which declared his little faith in the efficacy
• 3:15:01
  of any books on grief like his, noted down the names of those she
• 3:15:05
  recommended, and promised to procure and read them. When the evening was over.
• 3:15:11
  Anne could not but be amused at the idea of her coming to Lime
• 3:15:15
  to preach patience and resignation to a young man whom she had never seen before.
• 3:15:20
  Nor could she help fearing on more serious reflection that, like many other
• 3:15:24
  great moralists and preachers, she had been eloquent on her point in which her
• 3:15:30
  own conducts would ill bear examination. End of Chapter eleven of Persuasion. Chapter
• 3:15:37
  twelve of Persuasion. Anne and Henrietta, finding themselves the earliest of the party
• 3:15:43
  the next morning, agreed to stroll down to the sea. Before breakfast.
• 3:15:48
  They went to the sands to watch the flowing of the tide, which a
• 3:15:52
  fine southeasterly breeze was bringing in with all the grandeur which so flat Ashore admitted.
• 3:15:58
  They praised the morning glory in the sea, sympathized in the delight of
• 3:16:01
  the fresh feeling breeze, and were silent. Tell Henrietta suddenly began again with,
• 3:16:09
  Oh, yes, I am quite convinced that, with very few exceptions,
• 3:16:13
  the sea air always does good. There can be no doubt of its
• 3:16:16
  having been of the greatest service to doctor Shirley after his illness last spring twelvemonth.
• 3:16:22
  He declares himself that coming to Lime for a month did more good than
• 3:16:28
  all the medicine he took, and that being by the sea always makes him
• 3:16:33
  feel young again. Now I cannot help thinking it a pity that he does
• 3:16:37
  not live entirely by the sea. I do think he had better leave Upper
• 3:16:41
  Cross entirely and fix that Lime, Do not you, Anne? Do you
• 3:16:46
  not agree with me that it is the best thing he could do, both
• 3:16:50
  for himself and missus Shirley. She has cousins here, you know, and
• 3:16:54
  many acquaintance which would make it cheerful for her, and I am sure she
• 3:16:58
  would be glad to get to a place where she could have medical attendance at
• 3:17:03
  hand in case of his having another seizure. Indeed, I think it quite
• 3:17:07
  melancholy to have such excellent people as doctor and missus Shirley, who have been
• 3:17:13
  doing good all their lives, wearing out their last days in a place like
• 3:17:18
  Upper Cross, where, excepting our family, they seem shut out from all
• 3:17:22
  the world. I wish his friends would propose it to him. I really
• 3:17:26
  think they ought. And as to procuring a dispensation, there could be no
• 3:17:31
  difficulty at his time of life, and with his character. My only doubt
• 3:17:37
  is whether anything could persuade him to leave his parish. He is so very
• 3:17:41
  strict and scrupulous in his notions. Over scrupulous, I must say, do
• 3:17:46
  you not think, Anne, it is being over scrupulous? Do you not
• 3:17:50
  think it is quite a mistaken point of conscience when a clergyman sacrifices his health
• 3:17:56
  for the sake of duties which may be just as well performed by another person.
• 3:18:01
  And at Lime too, only seventeen miles off, he would be near
• 3:18:05
  enough to hear if people thought there was anything to complain of. Anne smiled
• 3:18:09
  more than once to herself during this speech, and entered into the subject as
• 3:18:15
  ready to do good by entering into the feelings of a young lady as of
• 3:18:18
  a young man. Though here it was good of a lower standard for what
• 3:18:22
  could be offered, but general acquiescence. She said, all that was reasonable
• 3:18:28
  and proper on the business. Felt the claims of Doctor Shirley to repose as
• 3:18:31
  she ought, saw how very desirable it was that he should have some active,
• 3:18:35
  respectable young man as a resident carrot, and was even courteous enough to
• 3:18:39
  hint at the advantage of such resident carrots being married. I wish, said
• 3:18:45
  Henrietta, very well pleased with her companion. I wish Lady Russell lived at
• 3:18:50
  Upper Cross and were intimate with Doctor Shirley. I have always heard of Lady
• 3:18:54
  Russell as a woman of the greatest influence with everybody. I always look upon
• 3:19:00
  her as able to persuade a person to anything. I am afraid of her,
• 3:19:05
  as I have told you before, quite afraid of her, because she
• 3:19:07
  is so very clever. But I respect her amazingly and wish we had such
• 3:19:13
  a neighbor at Upper Cross. Anne was amused by Henriette's manner of being grateful,
• 3:19:18
  and amused also that the course of events and the new interests of Henrietta's
• 3:19:22
  views should have placed her friend at all in favor with any of the Musgrove
• 3:19:26
  family. She had only time, however, for a general answer and a
• 3:19:31
  wish that such another woman were at Upper Cross, before all subjects suddenly ceased.
• 3:19:35
  On seeing Louisa and Captain Wentworth coming towards them. They came also for
• 3:19:41
  a stroll till breakfast was likely to be ready, but Louisa, recollecting immediately
• 3:19:46
  afterwards that she had something to procure at a shop, invited them all to
• 3:19:50
  go back with her into the town. They were all at her disposal when
• 3:19:54
  they came to the steps leading upwards from the beach. A gentleman at the
• 3:19:58
  same time, a moment preparing to come down, politely drew back and stopped
• 3:20:03
  to give them way. They ascended and passed him, and as they passed,
• 3:20:07
  Anne's face caught his eye, and he looked at her with a degree
• 3:20:11
  of earnest admiration which she could not be insensible of. She was looking remarkably
• 3:20:18
  well, her very regular and very pretty features having the bloom and freshness of
• 3:20:22
  youth, restored by the fine wind which had been blowing on her complexion,
• 3:20:26
  and by the animation of eye which it had also produced, it was evident
• 3:20:31
  that the gentleman, completely a gentleman in manner, admired her exceedingly. Captain
• 3:20:37
  Wentworth looked round at her instantly in a way which showed his noticing of it.
• 3:20:43
  He gave her a momentary glance, a glance of brightness which seemed to
• 3:20:46
  say that man is struck with you, and even I at this moment see
• 3:20:50
  something like Anne Elliot again. After attending Louisa through her business and loitering about
• 3:20:56
  a little longer, they returned to the Inn, and Anne, in passing
• 3:21:01
  afterwards quickly from her own chamber to their dining room, had nearly run against
• 3:21:05
  the very same gentleman as he came out of an adjoining apartment. She had
• 3:21:11
  before conjectured him to be a stranger like themselves, and determined that a well
• 3:21:15
  looking groom who was strolling about near the two winds as they came back,
• 3:21:18
  should be his servant. Both master and man being in mourning, assisted the
• 3:21:24
  idea. It was now proved that he belonged to the same Inn as themselves,
• 3:21:28
  and this second meeting short as it was also proved again by the gentleman's
• 3:21:33
  looks that he thought hers very lovely, and by the readiness and propriety of
• 3:21:39
  his apologies, that he was a man of exceedingly good manners. He seemed
• 3:21:43
  about thirty, and, though not handsome, had an agreeable person. Anne
• 3:21:48
  felt that she should like to know who he was. They had nearly done
• 3:21:54
  breakfast when the sound of a carriage, almost the first they had heard since
• 3:21:58
  entering Lyme, drew half the party to the window. It was a gentleman's
• 3:22:03
  carriage, a curricle, but only coming round from the stable yard to the
• 3:22:07
  front door. Somebody must be going away. It was driven by a servants
• 3:22:13
  in mourning. The word curricle made Charles Musgrove jump up that he might compare
• 3:22:18
  it with his own. The servant in mourning roused Anne's curiosity, and the
• 3:22:22
  whole six were collected to look. By the time the owner of the curricle
• 3:22:26
  was to be seen issuing from the door amidst the bows and civilities of the
• 3:22:31
  household, and taking his seat to drive off. Ah cried Captain Wentworth instantly,
• 3:22:37
  and with half a glance at Anne. It is the very man we
• 3:22:39
  passed. The Miss Musgroves agreed to it, and having all kindly watched him
• 3:22:45
  as far up the hill as they could, they returned to the breakfast table.
• 3:22:48
  The waiter came into the room soon afterwards, Pray said, Captain Wentworth
• 3:22:52
  immediately, Can you tell us the name of the gentleman has just gone away?
• 3:22:56
  Yes, sir, and mister Elliott, a gentleman of large fortune,
• 3:23:00
  came in last night from Sidmouth. Dur say you heared the carriage, sir,
• 3:23:03
  while you were at dinner and going on now for Krewkern in his way
• 3:23:07
  to bath in London Elliott. Many had looked on each other, and many
• 3:23:13
  had repeated the name. Before all this had been got through even by the
• 3:23:16
  smart rapidity of a waiter. Bless me, cried Mary. It must be
• 3:23:20
  our cousin. It must be our mister Elliot. It must indeed, Charles
• 3:23:26
  Anne must not it in mourning, you see, just as our mister Elliott
• 3:23:31
  must be, how very extraordinary, in the very same inn with us Anne.
• 3:23:35
  Must not it be our mister Elliott, my father's next air? Pray,
• 3:23:39
  Sir, turning to the waiter, did not you hear? Did not
• 3:23:43
  his servants say whether he belonged to the Kellynch family. No, m'am.
• 3:23:46
  He did not mention no particular family, but he said his master was a
• 3:23:50
  very rich gentleman. I would be a baronet some day there, you see,
• 3:23:54
  cried Mary in an ecstasy. Just as I said, heir to Sir
• 3:24:00
  Elliot. I was sure that would come out if it were so depend upon
• 3:24:03
  it. That is a circumstance which his servants take care to publish wherever he
• 3:24:07
  goes. But Anne only conceive how extraordinary. I wish I had looked at
• 3:24:13
  him more. I wish we had been aware in time who it was,
• 3:24:16
  that he might have been introduced to us. What a pity that we should
• 3:24:18
  not have been introduced to each other. Do you think he had the Elliot
• 3:24:22
  countenance? I hardly looked at him. I was looking at the horses.
• 3:24:26
  But I think he had something in the Elliot countenance. I wonder the arms
• 3:24:30
  did not strike me. Oh, the great coat was hanging over the panel
• 3:24:33
  and hid the arms, so it did. Otherwise, I am sure I
• 3:24:37
  should have observed them, and the livery too. If the servant had not
• 3:24:41
  been in mourning, one should have known him by the livery. Putting all
• 3:24:45
  these very extraordinary circumstances together, said Captain Wentworth. We must consider it to
• 3:24:50
  be the arrangement of providence that you should not be introduced to your cousin.
• 3:24:54
  When she could command Mary's attention, Anne quietly tried to convince her that their
• 3:24:58
  father and mister Elliot had not for many years been on such terms as to
• 3:25:01
  make the power of attempting an introduction at all desirable. At the same time,
• 3:25:07
  however, it was a secret gratification to herself to have seen her cousin,
• 3:25:11
  and to know that the future owner of Kellynch was undoubtedly a gentleman and
• 3:25:16
  had an air of good sense. She would not, upon any account mention
• 3:25:20
  her having met with him the second time. Luckily, Mary did not much
• 3:25:24
  attend to their having passed close by him in their earlier walk, but she
• 3:25:28
  would have felt quite ill used by Anne's having actually run against him in the
• 3:25:33
  passage and received his very polite excuses, while she had never been near him
• 3:25:37
  at all. No, that cousinly little interview must remain a perfect secret,
• 3:25:43
  of course, said Mary. You will mention our seeing mister Elliott the next
• 3:25:48
  time you write to Bath. I think my father certainly ought to hear of
• 3:25:50
  it to mention all about him. Anne avoided a direct reply, but it
• 3:25:56
  was just the circumstance which she considered as not merely unnecessary to be communicated,
• 3:26:01
  but as what ought to be suppressed, the offense which had been given her
• 3:26:05
  father many years back. She knew Elizabeth's particular share in it, she suspected,
• 3:26:11
  and that mister Elliott's idea always produced irritation in both was beyond a doubt.
• 3:26:16
  Mary never wrote to Bath herself. All the toil of keeping up a
• 3:26:20
  slow and unsatisfactory correspondence with Elizabeth fell on Anne. Breakfast had not been long
• 3:26:28
  over when they were joined by Captain and Missus Harville and Captain Benwick, with
• 3:26:31
  whom they had appointed to take their last walk about lyme. They ought to
• 3:26:35
  be setting off for Uppercross by one, and in the meanwhile were to be
• 3:26:39
  all together and out of doors as long as they could. Anne found Captain
• 3:26:45
  Benwick getting near her as soon as they were all fairly in the street.
• 3:26:48
  Their conversation the preceding evening did not disincline him to seek her again, and
• 3:26:54
  they walked together some time, talking as before of mister Scott and Lord Byron,
• 3:26:58
  and still as unable as before, and as unable as any other too
• 3:27:03
  readers to think exactly alike of the merits of either till something occasioned an almost
• 3:27:09
  general change amongst their party, and instead of Captain Benwick, she had Captain
• 3:27:13
  Harville by her side. Miss Elliot said, he speaking rather low. You
• 3:27:18
  have done a good deed in making that poor fellow talk so much. I
• 3:27:22
  wish he could have such company oftener. It is bad for him, I
• 3:27:26
  know, to be shut up as he is. But what can we do?
• 3:27:28
  We cannot part? No, said Anne, that I can easily believe
• 3:27:33
  to be impossible. But in time perhaps we know what time does in every
• 3:27:39
  case of affliction. And you must remember, Captain Harville, that your friend
• 3:27:43
  may yet be called a young warner. Only last summer, I understand,
• 3:27:48
  I true enough, with a deep sigh, only June, and not known
• 3:27:52
  to him, perhaps so soon, not till the first week of August,
• 3:27:56
  when he came home from the Cape, just made into the Grattler. I
• 3:28:01
  was at Plymouth, dreading to hear of him. He sent in letters,
• 3:28:05
  but the Grattler was under orders for Portsmouth. There the news must follow him,
• 3:28:09
  But who was to tell it? Not I I would as soon have
• 3:28:13
  been run up to the art arm. Nobody could do it, but that
• 3:28:16
  good fellow, pointing to Captain Wentworth. The Laconia had come into Plymouth the
• 3:28:20
  week before, no danger of her being sent to see again, he stood
• 3:28:24
  his chance for the rest, wrote up for leave of absence, but without
• 3:28:28
  waiting return, traveled night and day till he got to Portsmouth, rode off
• 3:28:33
  to the gratler that instant, and never left the poor fellow for a week.
• 3:28:37
  That's what he did, and nobody else could have saved poor James.
• 3:28:41
  You may think, miss Elliot, whether he is dear to usk and did
• 3:28:45
  think on the question with perfect decision, and said as much in reply as
• 3:28:50
  her own feeling could accomplish, or as his seemed able to bear, for
• 3:28:54
  he was too much affected to renew the subject. And when he spoke again
• 3:28:58
  it was of something totally different. Missus Harville's giving it as her opinion that
• 3:29:03
  her husband would have quite walking enough by the time he reached home, determined
• 3:29:07
  the direction of all the parting in what was to be their last walk.
• 3:29:11
  They would accompany them to their door and then return and set off themselves.
• 3:29:16
  By all their calculations, there was just time for this, But as they
• 3:29:20
  drew near the cob there was such a general wish to walk along it once
• 3:29:24
  more. All were so inclined, and Louisa soon grew so determined that the
• 3:29:30
  difference of a quarter of an hour, it was found, would be no
• 3:29:33
  difference at all. So, with all the kind leave taking, and all
• 3:29:37
  the kind interchange of invitations and promises which may be imagined, they parted from
• 3:29:41
  Captain and Missus Harville at their own door, and, still accompanied by Captain
• 3:29:46
  Benwick, who seemed to cling to them to the last, proceeded to make
• 3:29:50
  the proper adieus to the cob. Anne found Captain Benwick again drawing near her.
• 3:29:56
  Lord Byron's dark blue seas could not fail of being brought forward by their
• 3:30:01
  present view, and she gladly gave him all her attention, as long as
• 3:30:05
  attention was possible. It was soon drawn perforce another way. There was too
• 3:30:13
  much wind to make the high part of the new cob pleasant for the ladies,
• 3:30:16
  and they agreed to get down the steps to the lore, and all
• 3:30:20
  were contented to pass quietly and carefully down the steep flight, excepting Louisa.
• 3:30:24
  She must be jumped down them by Captain Wentworth. In all their walks he
• 3:30:30
  had had to jump her from the stiles. The sensation was delightful to her.
• 3:30:35
  The hardness of the pavement for their feats made him less willing. Upon
• 3:30:39
  the present occasion he did it. However, she was safely down, and
• 3:30:43
  instantly, to show her enjoyment, ran up the steps to be jumped down
• 3:30:46
  again. He advised her against it, thought the jar too great. But
• 3:30:52
  no, he reasoned and talked in vain. She smiled and said, I
• 3:30:56
  am determined. I will. He put out his hands. She was too
• 3:31:01
  precipitate by half a second. She fell on the pavement on the lower cob,
• 3:31:05
  and was taken up lifeless. There was no wound, no blood,
• 3:31:11
  no visible bruise, but her eyes were closed. She breathed not. Her
• 3:31:16
  face was like death. The horror of the moment to all who stood around.
• 3:31:22
  Captain Wentworth, who had caught her up net with her in his arms,
• 3:31:26
  looking on her with a face as pallid as her own, in an
• 3:31:30
  agony of silence. She is dead. She is dead, screamed Mary,
• 3:31:35
  catching hold of her husband and contributing with his own horror to make him immovable,
• 3:31:39
  And in another moment Henrietta, sinking under the conviction, lost her senses
• 3:31:46
  too, and would have fallen on the steps, but for Captain Benwick and
• 3:31:50
  Anne, who caught and supported her between them. Is there no one to
• 3:31:54
  help me? Were the first words which burst from Captain Wentworth, in a
• 3:31:58
  tone of despair, and as if all his own strength were gone. Go
• 3:32:01
  to him, Go to him, cried Anne, for heaven's sake, go
• 3:32:05
  to him. I can support him myself. Leave me and go to him.
• 3:32:09
  Rub her hands, rub her temples. Here assaults, take them,
• 3:32:15
  take them. Captain Benwick obeyed, and Charles at the same moment, disengaging
• 3:32:20
  himself from his wife. They were both with him, and Louisa was raised
• 3:32:24
  up and supported more firmly between them, and everything was done that Anne had
• 3:32:28
  prompted, but in vain, while Captain Wentworth, staggering against the wall for
• 3:32:33
  his support exclaimed in the bitterest agony a god, a father and mother A
• 3:32:39
  surgeon, said Anne. He caught the word. It seemed to rouse him
• 3:32:43
  at once, and saying only true true a surgeon. This instant was darting
• 3:32:48
  away when Anne eagerly suggested Captain Bennick would not it be better for Captain Bennick,
• 3:32:54
  he knows where a surgeon is to be found. Everyone capable of thinking
• 3:32:58
  felt the advance of the idea, and in a moment he was all done.
• 3:33:03
  In rapid moments, Captain Benwick had resigned the poor corpselike figure entirely to
• 3:33:07
  the brother's care, and was off for the town with the utmost rapidity.
• 3:33:13
  As of the wretched party left behind, he could scarcely be said which of
• 3:33:18
  the three, who were completely rational, was suffering most. Captain Wentworth,
• 3:33:22
  Anne or Charles. Charles, who really a very affectionate brother, hung over
• 3:33:28
  Louisa with sobs of grief, and could only turn his eyes from one sister
• 3:33:31
  to see the other in a state as insensible, or to witness the hysterical
• 3:33:37
  agitations of his wife calling on him for help which he could not give.
• 3:33:43
  Anne, attending with all the strength and zeal and thought which instincts supplied to
• 3:33:48
  Henrietta, still tried at intervals to suggest comfort to the others, tried to
• 3:33:52
  quiet Mary, to animate Charles to assuage the feelings of Captain Wentworth. Both
• 3:33:58
  seemed to book to her for directions. Am Am cried Charles, what is
• 3:34:03
  to be done next? What in Heaven's name is to be done? Next?
• 3:34:07
  Captain Wentworth's eyes were also turned towards her, had not she better be
• 3:34:11
  carried to the inn. Yes, I'm sure, carry her gently to the
• 3:34:16
  inn. Yes, yes to the inn, repeating Captain Wentworth, comparatively collected
• 3:34:22
  and eager to be doing something. I will carry her myself, Muscrow,
• 3:34:26
  take care of the others. By this time, the report of the accident
• 3:34:30
  had spread among the workmen and boatmen about the cob, and many were collected
• 3:34:33
  near them to be useful if wanted at any rate, to enjoy the sight
• 3:34:37
  of a dead young lady, nay two dead young ladies, For it proved
• 3:34:41
  twice as fine as the first report. To some of the best looking of
• 3:34:46
  these good people. Henrietta was consigned, for, though partially revived, she
• 3:34:50
  was quite helpless, and in this manner, Anne, walking by her side,
• 3:34:54
  and Charles attending to his wife, they set forward, treading back with
• 3:34:58
  feeling unutterable the ground which so lately, so very lately, and so light
• 3:35:05
  of heart they had passed along. They were not off the cob before the
• 3:35:09
  Harvilles met them. Captain Benwick had been seen flying by their house with a
• 3:35:15
  countenance which showed something to be wrong, and they had set off immediately,
• 3:35:18
  informed and directed as they passed towards the spot. Shocked as Captain Harville was,
• 3:35:24
  he brought senses and nerves that could be instantly useful, and a look
• 3:35:28
  between him and his wife decided what was to be done. She must be
• 3:35:33
  taken to their house. All must go to the house and await the surgeon's
• 3:35:37
  arrival. There. They would not listen to scruples. He was obeyed.
• 3:35:41
  They were all beneath his roof, and while Louisa, under Missus Harville's direction,
• 3:35:46
  was conveyed upstairs and given possession of her own bed. Assistants, cordials,
• 3:35:50
  restoratives were supplied by her husband to all who needed them. Louisa had
• 3:35:56
  once opened her eyes, but soon closed them again, without apparent consciousness.
• 3:36:01
  This had been a proof of life, however, of service to her sister,
• 3:36:05
  and Henrietta, though perfectly incapable of being in the same room with Louisa,
• 3:36:11
  was kept by the agitation of hope and fear from a return of her
• 3:36:15
  own insensibility. Mary too was growing calmer. The surgeon was with them almost
• 3:36:22
  before it seemed possible they were sick with horror while he examined, but he
• 3:36:28
  was not hopeless. The head had received a severe contusion, but he had
• 3:36:33
  seen greater injuries recovered from He was by no means hopeless. He spoke cheerfully,
• 3:36:39
  that he did not regard it as a desperate case, that he did
• 3:36:43
  not say a few hours must end. It was at first felt beyond the
• 3:36:46
  hope of most and the ecstasy of such a reprieve. The rejoicing deep and
• 3:36:52
  silent, after a few fervent ejaculations of gratitude to Heaven had been offered,
• 3:36:56
  may be conceived the tone the look with which thank God was uttered by Captain
• 3:37:03
  Wentworth, and was sure could never be forgotten by her nor the side of
• 3:37:09
  him afterwards, as he sat near a table, leaning over it with folded
• 3:37:13
  arms and face concealed as if overpowered by the various feelings of his soul,
• 3:37:18
  and trying by prayer and reflection to calm them. Louise's limbs had escaped.
• 3:37:24
  There was no injury but to the head. It now became necessary for the
• 3:37:30
  party to consider what was best to be done as to their general situation.
• 3:37:35
  They were now able to speak to each other and consult that Louisa must remain
• 3:37:39
  where she was. However, distressing to her friends to be involving the Harvilles
• 3:37:43
  in such trouble, did not admit a doubt her removal was impossible. The
• 3:37:48
  Harvilles silenced all scruples, and as much as they could, or gratitude they
• 3:37:54
  had looked forward and arranged everything before the others began to reflect. Captain Benwick
• 3:37:58
  must go give up his room to them and get another bed elsewhere, and
• 3:38:03
  the whole was settled. They were only concerned that the house could accommodate no
• 3:38:07
  more. And yet perhaps by putting the children away in the maid's room or
• 3:38:13
  swinging a cat somewhere, they could hardly better think of not finding room for
• 3:38:18
  two or three. Besides, supposing they might wish to stay. Though with
• 3:38:22
  regard to any attendance on Miss Musgrove, there need not be the least uneasiness
• 3:38:26
  in leaving her to missus Harville's care. Entirely. Missus Harville was a very
• 3:38:31
  experienced nurse, and her nursery maid, who had lived with her long and
• 3:38:35
  gone about with her everywhere, was just such another. Between these two.
• 3:38:39
  She could want no possible attendance by day or night, and all this was
• 3:38:43
  said with a truth and sincerity of feeling irresistible. Charles, Henrietta and Captain
• 3:38:50
  Wentworth were the three in consultation, and for a little while it was only
• 3:38:54
  an interchange of perplexity and terror up across the necessity of some going to uppercross
• 3:39:01
  the news to be conveyed, how it could be broken to mister and missus
• 3:39:05
  Musgrove, the lateness of the morning, an hour already gone, since there
• 3:39:09
  ought to have been off the impossibility of being intolerable time. At first they
• 3:39:13
  were capable of nothing more to the purpose than such exclamations. But after a
• 3:39:18
  while Captain Wentworth, exerting himself, said we must be decided, and without
• 3:39:24
  the loss of another minute. Every minute is valuable. Someone must resolve on
• 3:39:28
  being offer up across instantly mus Grove, either you or I must go.
• 3:39:33
  Charles agreed, but declared his resolution of not going away. He would be
• 3:39:37
  as little encumbrance as possible to Captain and Missus Harville, But as to leaving
• 3:39:43
  his sister in such a state, he neither ought nor would. So far
• 3:39:46
  it was decided, and Henrietta at first declared the same. She, however,
• 3:39:52
  was soon persuaded to think differently the usefulness of her staying. She who
• 3:39:56
  had not been able to remain in Louise's room or to look at her without
• 3:40:01
  sufferings which made her worse than helpless. She was forced to acknowledge that she
• 3:40:05
  could do no good, yet was still unwilling to be away, till touched
• 3:40:09
  by the thought of her father and mother, she gave it up. She
• 3:40:13
  consented, she was anxious to be at home. The plan had reached this
• 3:40:18
  point when Anne, coming quietly down from Louise's room, could not but hear
• 3:40:22
  what followed, for the parlor door was open. Then it is settled,
• 3:40:26
  Muscrow, cried, Captain Wentworth, that you stay, and that I take
• 3:40:30
  care of your sister home. But as to the rest, as to the
• 3:40:33
  others, if one stays, Sussist Missus Harville, I think it need be
• 3:40:37
  only one. Missus Charles Musker, will of course wish to get back to
• 3:40:41
  her children. But if Anne will stay, no one's so proper so capable
• 3:40:46
  as Anne. She paused a moment to recover from the emotion of hearing herself
• 3:40:50
  so spoken of the other too warmly agreed with what he said, and she
• 3:40:54
  then appeared you will stay. I am sure you will stay, and cried
• 3:41:01
  he, turning to her and speaking with a glow and yet a gentleness which
• 3:41:05
  seemed almost restoring the past. She colored deeply, and he recollected himself and
• 3:41:11
  moved away. She expressed herself most willing, ready happy to remain. It
• 3:41:18
  was what she had been thinking of and wishing to be allowed to do.
• 3:41:22
  A bed on the floor in Louise's room would be sufficient for her one thing
• 3:41:28
  more, and all seemed arranged, though it was rather desirable that mister and
• 3:41:31
  missus Musgrove should be previously alarmed by some share of delay. Yet the time
• 3:41:37
  required for the upper cross horses to take them back would be a dreadful extension
• 3:41:41
  of suspense, and Captain Wentworth proposed, and Charles Musgrove agreed that it would
• 3:41:46
  be much better for him to take a chaise from the inn and leave mister
• 3:41:50
  Musgrove's carriage and horses to be sent home the next morning, early, when
• 3:41:54
  there would be the farther advantage of sending an account of Louise's night. Captain
• 3:41:58
  Wentworth now hurried off to get everything ready on his part, and to be
• 3:42:03
  soon followed by the two ladies. When the plan was made known to Mary,
• 3:42:07
  however, there was an end of all peace in it. She was
• 3:42:11
  so wretched and so vehement, complained so much of injustice in being expected to
• 3:42:16
  go away instead of Anne, Anne, who was nothing to Louisa. While
• 3:42:20
  she was her sister and had the best right to stay at Henrietta's stead,
• 3:42:26
  Why was not she to be as useful as Anne, and to go home
• 3:42:28
  without Charles too, without her husband? Now it was too unkind and in
• 3:42:35
  short, she said, more than her husband could long withstand. And as
• 3:42:39
  none of the others could oppose when he gave way, there was no help
• 3:42:43
  for it. The change of Mary for Anne was inevitable. Anne had never
• 3:42:50
  submitted more reluctantly to the jealous and ill judging claims of Mary. But so
• 3:42:56
  it must be, and they set off for the town, Charles taking care
• 3:43:00
  of his sister, and Captain Benwick attending to her. She gave a moment's
• 3:43:05
  recollection as they hurried along to the little circumstances which the same spots had witnessed
• 3:43:09
  earlier in the morning. There she had listened to Henrietta's schemes for Doctor Shirley's
• 3:43:15
  leaving opera cross farther on she had first seen mister Elliot. A moment seemed
• 3:43:20
  all that could now be given to any one but Louisa or those who were
• 3:43:24
  wrapped in her welfare. Captain Benwick was most considerately attentive to her, and
• 3:43:31
  united as they all seemed by the distress of the day. She felt an
• 3:43:35
  increasing degree of good will towards him, and a pleasure even in thinking that
• 3:43:39
  it might perhaps be the occasion of continuing their acquaintance. Captain Wentworth was on
• 3:43:46
  the watch for them, and a chaise and four in waiting, stationed for
• 3:43:50
  their convenience in the lowest part of the street. But his evident surprise and
• 3:43:54
  vexation at the substitution of one sister for the other, the change in his
• 3:43:58
  countenance, the astonishment the expressions begun and suppressed with which Charles was listened to,
• 3:44:05
  made but a mortifying reception of Anne Or must at least convince her that
• 3:44:09
  she was valued only as she could be useful to Louisa. She endeavored to
• 3:44:16
  be composed and to be just, without emulating the feelings of an emma towards
• 3:44:20
  her Henry. She would have attended on Louisa with a zeal above the common
• 3:44:24
  claims of regard for his sake, and she hoped he would not long be
• 3:44:28
  so unjust as to suppose she would shrink unnecessarily from the office of a friend
• 3:44:35
  in the Meanwhile, she was in the carriage. He had handed them both
• 3:44:39
  in and placed himself between them, and in this manner under these circumstances,
• 3:44:46
  full of astonishment and emotion, to Anne, she quitted lyme how the long
• 3:44:52
  stage would pass, how it was to affect their manners, what was to
• 3:44:56
  be their sort of intercourse? She could not foresee. It was all quite
• 3:45:01
  natural. However, he was devoted to Henrietta, always turning towards her,
• 3:45:05
  and when he spoke at all, always with the view of supporting her hopes
• 3:45:09
  and raising her spirits. In general, his voice and manner were studiously calm.
• 3:45:16
  To spare Henrietta from agitation, seemed the governing principle. Once, only,
• 3:45:20
  when she had been grieving over the last, ill judged, ill fated
• 3:45:24
  walk to the cob, bitterly lamenting that it ever had been thought of,
• 3:45:28
  he burst forth as if wholly overcome. Don't talk of it. Don't talk
• 3:45:33
  of it, he cried, O God, that I had not given way
• 3:45:37
  to her at the fatal moment, had I done as I ought? But
• 3:45:41
  so eager, so resolute, dear sweet Louisa, And wondered whether it ever
• 3:45:46
  occurred to him now to question the justness of his own previous opinion as to
• 3:45:50
  the universal felicity and advantage of firmness of character, And whether it might not
• 3:45:56
  strike him that, like all other qualities of the mind, it should have
• 3:46:01
  its proportions and limits. She thought it could scarcely escape him to feel that
• 3:46:05
  a persuadable temper might sometimes be as much in favor of happiness as a very
• 3:46:11
  resolute character. They got on fast, Anne was astonished to recognize the same
• 3:46:16
  hills and the same object. So soon their actual speed, heightened by some
• 3:46:22
  dread of the conclusion, made the road appear but half as long as on
• 3:46:26
  the day before. It was growing quite dusk, however, before they were
• 3:46:30
  in the neighborhood of Upper Cross, and there had been total silence among them
• 3:46:33
  for some time, Henrietta leaning back in the corner with a shawl over her
• 3:46:37
  face, giving the hope of her having cried herself to sleep. When as
• 3:46:41
  they were going up their last hill, Anne found herself all at once addressed
• 3:46:46
  by Captain Wentworth. In a low, cautious voice, he said, I
• 3:46:50
  have been considering what we had best do. She must not appear. At
• 3:46:54
  first she could not stand it. I have been thinking whether you had not
• 3:47:00
  better remain in the cash with her while I go in and break it to
• 3:47:03
  mister missus Musgrove. Do you think this is a good plan? She did.
• 3:47:07
  He was satisfied and said no more. But the remembrance of the appeal
• 3:47:13
  made a pleasure to her as a proof of friendship and of deference for her
• 3:47:16
  judgments, a great pleasure, and when it became a sort of parting proof,
• 3:47:20
  its value did not lessen. When the distressing communication at Uppercross was over,
• 3:47:26
  and he had seen the father and mother quite as composed as could be
• 3:47:30
  hoped, and the daughter all the better for being with them, he announced
• 3:47:33
  his intention of returning in the same carriage to Lyme, And when the horses
• 3:47:37
  were baited, he was off end of Chapter twelve of Persuasion. Chapter thirteen
• 3:47:46
  of Persuasion. The remainder of Anne's time at Uppercross, comprehending only two days,
• 3:47:52
  was spent entirely at the mansion house, and she had the satisfaction of
• 3:47:56
  knowing herself extremely useful there, both as an immediate companion and as assisting in
• 3:48:01
  all those arrangements for the future, which, in mister and Missus Musgrove's distressed
• 3:48:05
  state of spirits, would have been difficulties. They had an early account from
• 3:48:11
  Lime the next morning. Louisa was much the same, no symptoms worse than
• 3:48:16
  before had appeared. Charles came a few hours afterwards to bring a later and
• 3:48:20
  more particular account. He was tolerably cheerful. A speedy cure must not be
• 3:48:26
  hoped, but everything was going on as well as the nature of the case.
• 3:48:30
  Admitted in speaking of the Harvilles, he seemed unable to satisfy his own
• 3:48:35
  sense of their kindness, especially of Missus Harville's exertions as a nurse. She
• 3:48:41
  really left nothing for Mary to do. He and Mary had been persuaded to
• 3:48:46
  go early to their inn last night. Mary had been hysterical again this morning
• 3:48:50
  when he came away. She was going to walk out with Captain Benwick,
• 3:48:54
  which he hoped would do her good. He almost wished she had been prevailed
• 3:48:58
  on to come home the day before, But the truth was that Missus Harville
• 3:49:03
  left nothing for anybody to do. Charles was to return to Lyme the same
• 3:49:07
  afternoon, and his father had at first half a mind to go with him,
• 3:49:11
  but the ladies would not consent. It would be going only to multiply
• 3:49:16
  trouble to the others and increase his own distress. And a much better scheme
• 3:49:20
  followed and was acted upon. A chaise was sent for from Croukharne, and
• 3:49:26
  Charles conveyed back a far more useful person in the old nursery maid of the
• 3:49:30
  family, one who, having brought up all the children and seen the very
• 3:49:33
  last the lingering and long petted Master Harry sent to school after his brothers,
• 3:49:39
  was now living in her deserted nursery to men's stockings and dress all the blains
• 3:49:43
  and brucees she could get near her, and who consequently was only too happy
• 3:49:48
  in being allowed to go and help nurse dear Miss Louisa. Vague wishes of
• 3:49:54
  getting Sarah thither had occurred before to missus Musgrove and Henrietta, but without Anne
• 3:49:58
  it was would hardly have been resolved on and found practicable. So soon they
• 3:50:05
  were indebted the next day to Charles Hayter for all the minute knowledge of Louisa,
• 3:50:09
  which it was so essential to obtain every twenty four hours. He made
• 3:50:13
  it his business to go to Lyme, and his account was still encouraging.
• 3:50:18
  The intervals of sense and consciousness were believed to be stronger every report agreed in
• 3:50:24
  Captain Wentworth's appearing fixed in Lime. Anne was to leave them on the morrow,
• 3:50:31
  an event which they all dreaded. What should they do without her?
• 3:50:35
  They were wretched comforters for one another, and so much was said in this
• 3:50:41
  way that Anne thought she could do no better than in part among them the
• 3:50:45
  general inclination to which she was privy, and persuaded them all to go to
• 3:50:48
  Lime at once. She had little difficulty. It was soon determined that they
• 3:50:54
  would go go tomorrow, fix themselves at the inn, or get into lodgings
• 3:50:58
  as its, and there remained till dear Louisa could be moved. They must
• 3:51:03
  be taking off some trouble from the good people she was with. They might
• 3:51:07
  at least relieve Missus Harville from the care of her own children. And in
• 3:51:11
  short, they were so happy in the decision that Anne was delighted with what
• 3:51:16
  she had done and felt that she could not spend her last morning at Uppercross
• 3:51:20
  better than in assisting their preparations and sending them off at an early hour.
• 3:51:24
  Though her being left to the solitary range of the house was the consequence.
• 3:51:30
  She was the last, excepting the little boys at the cottage. She was
• 3:51:33
  the very last, the only remaining one of all that had filled and animated
• 3:51:37
  both houses, Of all that had given up across its cheerful character, a
• 3:51:43
  few days had made a change. Indeed, if Louisa recovered, it would
• 3:51:48
  all be well again. More than former happiness would be restored. There could
• 3:51:54
  not be a doubt to her mind. There was none of what would follow
• 3:51:58
  her recovery a few months hence, and the room now so deserted occupied by
• 3:52:03
  her silent, pensive self, might be filled again with all that was happy
• 3:52:09
  and gay, all that was glowing and bright and prosperous love, all that
• 3:52:13
  was most unlike an eliot, an hour's complete leisure for such reflections as these.
• 3:52:20
  On a dark November day, a small thick rain, almost blotting out
• 3:52:24
  the very objects ever to be discerned from the windows, was enough to make
• 3:52:28
  the sound of Lady Russell's carriage exceedingly welcome. And yet though desirous to be
• 3:52:35
  gone. She could not quit the mansion house, or look an adieu to
• 3:52:39
  the College with its black, dripping and comfortless Verandah, or even notice through
• 3:52:43
  the misty glasses the last humble tenements of the village without a saddened heart.
• 3:52:48
  Scenes had passed in Upper Cross which made it precious. It stood the record
• 3:52:54
  of many sensations of pain, once severe but now softened, and of some
• 3:53:00
  instances of relenting feeling, some breathings of friendship and reconciliation, which could never
• 3:53:05
  be looked for again, and which could never cease to be dear. She
• 3:53:11
  left it all behind her, all but the recollection that such things had been.
• 3:53:16
  Anne had never entered Kellynch since her quitting Lady Russell's house in September.
• 3:53:22
  It had not been necessary, and the few occasions of its being possible for
• 3:53:26
  her to go to the Hall she had contrived to evade and escape from.
• 3:53:30
  Her first return was to resume her place in the modern and elegant apartments of
• 3:53:33
  the lodge, and to gladden the eyes of its mistress. There was some
• 3:53:39
  anxiety mixed with Lady Russell's joy in meeting her. She knew who had been
• 3:53:43
  frequenting up across, but happily either Anne was improved in plumpness and looks,
• 3:53:50
  or Lady Russell fancied herself, and Anne, in receiving her compliments on the
• 3:53:54
  occasion, had the amusement of connecting them with the silent admiration of her cousin,
• 3:54:00
  and of hoping that she was to be blessed with a second spring of
• 3:54:03
  youth and beauty. When they came to converse, she was soon sensible of
• 3:54:09
  some mental change. The subjects of which her heart had been full on leaving
• 3:54:13
  Kellynch, and which she had felt slighted and had been compelled to smother among
• 3:54:16
  the Musgroves, were now become but of secondary interest. She had lately lost
• 3:54:22
  sight even of her father and sister and Bath. Their concerns had been sunk
• 3:54:28
  under those of Upper Cross, and when Lady Russell reverted to their former hopes
• 3:54:31
  and fears and spoke her satisfaction in the house in Camden Place which had been
• 3:54:37
  taken, and her regret that missus Clay should still be with them, Anne
• 3:54:41
  would have been ashamed to have it known how much more she was thinking of
• 3:54:45
  Lyme and Louisa Musgrove and all her acquaintance there. How much more interesting to
• 3:54:50
  her was the home and the friendship of the Harvilles and Captain Benwick than her
• 3:54:54
  own father's house in Camden Place. For her own sister's intimacy with missus Clay,
• 3:55:00
  she was actually forced to exert herself to meet Lady Russell with anything like
• 3:55:05
  the appearance of equal solicitude on topics which had, by nature the first claim
• 3:55:09
  on her. There was a little awkwardness at first in their discourse on another
• 3:55:16
  subject. They must speak of the accident at lyme. Lady Russell had not
• 3:55:20
  been arrived five minutes the day before, when a full account of the whole
• 3:55:24
  had burst on her. But still it must be talked of. She must
• 3:55:28
  make inquiries, she must regret the imprudence lament the result, and Captain Wentworth's
• 3:55:35
  name must be mentioned by both. Anne was conscious of not doing it so
• 3:55:39
  well as Lady Russell. She could not speak the name, and looked straight
• 3:55:43
  forward to Lady Russell's eye till she had adopted the expedient of telling her briefly
• 3:55:48
  what she thought of the attachment between him and Louisa. When this was told,
• 3:55:54
  his name distressed her no longer Lady Russell had only to listen composerly and
• 3:56:00
  wish them happy. But internally her heart reveled in angry pleasure, in pleased
• 3:56:05
  contempt, that the man who at twenty three had seemed to understand somewhat of
• 3:56:09
  the value of an Anne Elliott, should, eight years afterwards be charmed by
• 3:56:13
  Eluisa Musgrove. The first three or four days passed most quietly, with no
• 3:56:20
  circumstance to mark them, accepting the receipt of a note or two from Lyme,
• 3:56:24
  which found their way to Anne. She could not tell how, and
• 3:56:28
  brought a rather improving account of Louisa. At the end of that period,
• 3:56:33
  Lady Russell's politeness could repose no longer, and the fainter self threatenings of the
• 3:56:37
  past became in a decided tone. I must call on missus Croft. I
• 3:56:41
  really must call upon her soon. Anne, have you the courage to go
• 3:56:46
  with me and pay a visit in that house? It will be some trial
• 3:56:50
  to us both. Anne did not shrink from it. On the contrary,
• 3:56:54
  she truly felt, as she said in observing, I think you were very
• 3:56:58
  likely to Saffer the most of the two. Your feelings are less reconciled to
• 3:57:01
  the change than mine. By remaining in the neighborhood, I am become inert
• 3:57:07
  to it. She could have said more on the subject, for she had,
• 3:57:11
  in fact so high an opinion of the crofts, and, considering her
• 3:57:13
  father so fortunate in his tenants, felt the perish to be so sure of
• 3:57:18
  a good example and the poor of the best attention and relief. That,
• 3:57:22
  however, sorry and ashamed for the necessity of the removal, she could not
• 3:57:26
  but in conscience feel that they were gone who deserved not to stay, and
• 3:57:31
  that Kellynch Hall had passed into better hands than its owners. These convictions must
• 3:57:37
  unquestionably have their own pain, and severe was its kind. But they precluded
• 3:57:43
  that pain which Lady Russell would suffer in entering the house again and returning through
• 3:57:46
  the well known apartments. In such moments, Anne had no power of saying
• 3:57:52
  to herself, these rooms ought to belong only to us, Oh, have
• 3:57:56
  fallen in their destination. How unworthily are occupied an ancient family to be so
• 3:58:01
  driven away, strangers filling their place now. Except when she thought of her
• 3:58:07
  mother and remembered where she had been used to sit and preside, she had
• 3:58:11
  no sigh of that description to heave. Missus Croft always met her with a
• 3:58:16
  kindness which gave her the pleasure of fancying herself a favorite, and on the
• 3:58:20
  present occasion receiving her in that house there was particular attention. The sad accident
• 3:58:26
  at Lyme was soon the prevailing topic, and on comparing their latest accounts of
• 3:58:31
  the invalid it appeared that each lady dated her intelligence from the same hour of
• 3:58:35
  Yesterborn. That Captain Wentworth had been in Kellynch yesterday the first time since the
• 3:58:41
  accident, had brought Anne the last notes which she had not been able to
• 3:58:45
  trace the exact steps of had stayed a few hours, and then returned again
• 3:58:50
  to Lyme, and without any present intention of quitting it any more, he
• 3:58:54
  had inquired after her. She found particularly had expressed his hope of Miss Elliot's
• 3:59:00
  not being the worse for her exertions, and had spoken of those exertions as
• 3:59:03
  great. This was handsome and gave her more pleasure than almost anything else could
• 3:59:09
  have done. As to the sad catastrophe itself, it could be canvassed only
• 3:59:15
  in one style by a couple of steady, sensible women whose judgments had to
• 3:59:20
  work on ascertained events, and it was perfectly decided that it had been the
• 3:59:24
  consequence of much thoughtlessness and much imprudence, that its effects were most alarming,
• 3:59:30
  and that it was frightful to think how long Miss Musgrove's recovery might yet be
• 3:59:35
  doubtful, and how liable she would still remain to suffer from the concussion.
• 3:59:39
  Hereafter, the Admiral wounded up summarily by exclaiming, ay, a very bad
• 3:59:46
  business. Indeed a new sort of way. This for a young fellow to
• 3:59:50
  be making love by breaking his mistress's head, is it not, miss Elliot?
• 3:59:54
  This is breaking ahead and giving a plaster? Truly? Admiral Coff's manners
• 4:00:00
  were not quite in the tone to suit Lady Russell, but they delighted Anne.
• 4:00:05
  His goodness of heart and simplicity of character were irresistible. Now this must
• 4:00:09
  be very bad for you, said he, suddenly rousing from a little reverie
• 4:00:13
  to be coming and finding us here. I had not recollected it before,
• 4:00:18
  I declare, but it must be very bad. But now do not stand
• 4:00:24
  upon ceremony, Get up and go over all the rooms in the house if
• 4:00:28
  you like it another time, sir, I thank you not now well,
• 4:00:33
  whenever it suits you, you can slip in from the shrubbery at any time,
• 4:00:37
  and there you will find we keep our umbrellas hanging up by the door.
• 4:00:41
  A good place, is it not? But chucking himself, you will
• 4:00:46
  not think it a good place, for yours were always kept in the butler's
• 4:00:50
  room. I so it always is. I believe one man's ways may be
• 4:00:56
  as good as another's, but we all like our own best. And so
• 4:01:01
  you must judge for yourself whether it would be better for you to go about
• 4:01:05
  the house or not. And finding she might decline it did so very gratefully.
• 4:01:11
  We have made very few changes either, continued the Admiral, after thinking
• 4:01:16
  a moment, very few. We told you about the laundry door at upper
• 4:01:20
  Cross. That has been a very great improvement. The wonder was how any
• 4:01:26
  family upon earth could bear with the inconvenience of its opening as it did so
• 4:01:31
  long. You will tell Sir Walter what we have done, and that mister
• 4:01:37
  Shepherd thinks it the greatest improvement the house ever had. Indeed, I must
• 4:01:43
  do ourselves justice to say that the few alterations we have made have been all
• 4:01:48
  very much for the better. My wife should have the credit of them.
• 4:01:52
  However, I have done very little besides sending away some of the large looking
• 4:01:56
  glasses from my dressing room, which was your father's. Ah, very good
• 4:02:03
  man, and very much the gentleman, I am sure, but I should
• 4:02:07
  think miss Elliott, looking with serious reflection, I should think he must be
• 4:02:11
  rather a dressy man for his time of life. Such a number of looking
• 4:02:16
  glasses, O Lord, there was no getting away from oneself. So I
• 4:02:22
  got Sophie to lend me a hand, and we soon shifted their quarters.
• 4:02:26
  And now I am quite snug with my little shaving glass in one corner,
• 4:02:30
  and another great thing that I never go near, and amused in spite of
• 4:02:35
  herself, was rather distressed for an answer, and the Admiral, fearing he
• 4:02:39
  might not have been civil enough, took up the subject again to say,
• 4:02:43
  the next time you write to your good father, miss Elliot, pray give
• 4:02:46
  him my compliments, and missus cross and say that we are settled here quite
• 4:02:52
  to our liking, and have no fault at all to find with the place.
• 4:02:56
  The breakfast room chimney smokes a little, I grant you, but it
• 4:03:00
  is only when the wind is due north and blows hard which may not happen
• 4:03:05
  three times of winter, and take it altogether. Now that we have been
• 4:03:09
  into most of the houses hereabouts and can judge, there is not one that
• 4:03:15
  we like better than this, pray say so with my compliments, he will
• 4:03:18
  be glad to hear it. Lady Russell and Missus Croft were very well pleased
• 4:03:22
  with each other, but the acquaintance which this visit began was fated not to
• 4:03:26
  proceed far at present, for when it was returned, the Crofts announced themselves
• 4:03:33
  to be going away for a few weeks to visit their connections in the north
• 4:03:35
  of the country, and probably might not be at home again before Lady Russell
• 4:03:39
  would be removing to Bath. So ended all danger to Anne of meeting Captain
• 4:03:46
  Wentworth at Kellynch Hall, or of seeing him in company with her friend.
• 4:03:50
  Everything was safe enough, and she smiled over the many anxious feelings she had
• 4:03:56
  wasted on the subject end of Chapter thirteen of Persuasion. Chapter fourteen of Persuasion.
• 4:04:05
  Though Charles and Mary had remained at Lime much longer after mister and Missus
• 4:04:09
  Musgrove's going than Anne conceived they could have been at all wanted. They were
• 4:04:13
  yet the first of the family to be at home again, and as soon
• 4:04:18
  as possible after their return to Upper Cross, they drove over to the lodge
• 4:04:22
  they had left Louisa beginning to set up. But her head, though clear,
• 4:04:26
  was exceedingly weak, and her nerves susceptible to the highest extreme of tenderness.
• 4:04:31
  And though she might be pronounced to be altogether doing very well, it
• 4:04:35
  was still impossible to say when she might be able to bear the removal home,
• 4:04:39
  and her father and mother, who must return in time to receive their
• 4:04:43
  younger children for the Christmas holidays, had hardly a hope of being allowed to
• 4:04:48
  bring her with them. They had been all in lodgings together. Missus Musgrove
• 4:04:54
  had got Missus Harville's children away as much as she could. Every possible supply
• 4:04:58
  from Uppercross had been furnished to lighten the inconvenience to the Harvilles, while the
• 4:05:01
  Harvilles had been wanting them to come to dinner every day, And in short,
• 4:05:05
  it seemed to have been only a struggle on each side as to which
• 4:05:09
  should be most disinterested and hospitable. Mary had had her evils, but upon
• 4:05:15
  the whole, as was evident by her staying so long she had found more
• 4:05:18
  to enjoy than to suffer. Charles Hater had been at Lyme oftener than suited
• 4:05:24
  her, and when they dined with the Harvilles, there had been only a
• 4:05:26
  maid servant to wait. And at first Missus Harvill had always given Missus Musgrove
• 4:05:31
  precedents. But then she had received so very handsome an apology from her on
• 4:05:37
  finding out whose daughter she was. And there had been so much going on
• 4:05:41
  every day. There had been so many walks between their lodgings and the Harvilles,
• 4:05:45
  and she had got books from the library and changed them so often that
• 4:05:48
  the balance had certainly been much in favor of Lyme. She had been taken
• 4:05:52
  to Charmouth too, and she had bathed, and she had gone to church,
• 4:05:56
  and there were a great many more people to look at in the church
• 4:06:00
  at Lyme then at Uppercross, and all this, joined to the sense of
• 4:06:03
  being so very useful, had made really an agreeable fortnight. And inquired after
• 4:06:09
  Captain Benwick. Mary's face was clouded directly. Charles laughed, Oh, Captain
• 4:06:16
  Benwick is very well, I believe, but he is a very odd young
• 4:06:20
  man. I do not know what he will be at we asked him to
• 4:06:24
  come with us for a day or two. Charles undertook to give him some
• 4:06:26
  shooting, and he seemed quite delighted, And for my part, I thought
• 4:06:30
  it was all settled. When behold on Tuesday night he made a very awkward
• 4:06:33
  sort of excuse. He never shot, and he had been quite misunderstood,
• 4:06:39
  and he had promised this, and he had promised that, And the end
• 4:06:43
  of it was. I found that he did not mean to come. I
• 4:06:46
  suppose he was afraid of finding it dull. But upon my word, I
• 4:06:48
  should have thought we were lively enough at the cottage for such a heart broken
• 4:06:52
  man as Captain Benwick. Charles laughed again and said, now, Mary,
• 4:06:56
  you know very well how it really was. Was all you're doing. Turning
• 4:07:01
  to Anne, he fancied that if he went with us, he should find
• 4:07:05
  you close by. He fancied everybody to be living in Uppercross, And when
• 4:07:09
  he discovered that Lady Russell lived three miles off, his heart failed him and
• 4:07:13
  he had not courage to come. That is the fact, upon my honor,
• 4:07:16
  Mary knows it is. But Mary did not give in to it very
• 4:07:20
  graciously, whether from not considering Captain Berwick entitled by birth and situation. To
• 4:07:24
  be in love with an Elliott, or from not wanting to believe Anne a
• 4:07:28
  greater attraction to Upper Cross than herself must be left to be guessed. Anne's
• 4:07:35
  good will, however, it was not to be lessened by what she heard.
• 4:07:37
  She boldly acknowledged herself flattered, and he continued her inquiries. Oh he
• 4:07:43
  talks of you, cried Charles, in such terms, Mary interrupted him.
• 4:07:48
  I declare, Charles, I never heard him mention Anne twice all the time
• 4:07:52
  I was there. I declare, Anne, he never talks of you at
• 4:07:56
  all, No, admitted Charles. I do not know that he ever does
• 4:08:00
  in a general way. But however, it is a very clear thing that
• 4:08:03
  he admires you exceedingly. His head is full of some books that he is
• 4:08:07
  reading, upon your recommendation, and he wants to talk to you about them.
• 4:08:11
  He has found out something or other in one of them, which he
• 4:08:13
  thinks. Oh, I cannot pretend to remember it, but it was something
• 4:08:18
  very fine. I overheard him telling Henrietta all about it, and then miss
• 4:08:22
  Elliot was spoken of in the highest terms. Now, Mary, I declare,
• 4:08:26
  it was so. I heard it myself, and you were in the
• 4:08:28
  other room, elegance, sweetness, beauty. Oh, there was no end
• 4:08:33
  of miss Elliot's charms. And I am sure, cried Mary warmly. It
• 4:08:37
  was a very little to his credit if he did. Miss Harville only died
• 4:08:41
  last June. Such a heart is very little worth having, is it,
• 4:08:46
  Lady Russell. I am sure you will agree with me. I must see
• 4:08:50
  Captain Benneck before I decide, said Lady Russell, smiling, and that you
• 4:08:54
  are very likely to do very soon. I can tell you, ma'am,
• 4:08:58
  said Charles, though he had not nerves for coming away with us and setting
• 4:09:01
  off again afterwards to pay a formal visit here. He will make his way
• 4:09:05
  over to Kellynch one day by himself. You may depend on it. I
• 4:09:07
  told him the distance and the road, and I told him of the churches
• 4:09:11
  being so very well worth seeing, for as he has a taste for those
• 4:09:15
  sort of things, I thought that would be a good excuse. And he
• 4:09:18
  listened with all his understanding and soul. And I am sure from his manner
• 4:09:22
  that you will have him calling here soon. So I give you notice,
• 4:09:26
  Lady Russell. Any acquaintance of Anne's will always be welcome to me, was
• 4:09:30
  Lady Russell's kind answer. Oh, as to being Anne's acquaintance, said Mary,
• 4:09:35
  I think he is rather my acquaintance, for I have been seeing him
• 4:09:39
  every day this last fortnight. Well as your joint acquaintance. Then I shall
• 4:09:43
  be very happy to see Captain Bennick. You will not find anything very agreeable
• 4:09:48
  in him, I assure you, ma'am. He is one of the dolls
• 4:09:50
  young men that ever lived. He has watchd with me, sometimes from one
• 4:09:54
  end of the sands to the other, without saying a word. He is
• 4:09:58
  not at all a well bred young man. I am sure you will not
• 4:10:01
  like him. There we differ, Mary, said Anne. I think Lady
• 4:10:05
  Russell would like him. I think she would be so much pleased with his
• 4:10:07
  mind that she would very soon see no deficiency in his manner. So do
• 4:10:13
  I am, said Charles. I'm sure Lady Russell would like him. He
• 4:10:16
  is just Lady Russell's sort. Give him a book and he will read all
• 4:10:20
  day long, Yes that he will, exclaimed Mary tauntingly. He will sit
• 4:10:26
  poring over his book and not know when a person speaks to him, or
• 4:10:28
  when one drops one's scissors, or anything that happens. Do you think Lady
• 4:10:33
  Russell would like that. Lady Russell could not help laughing upon my word,
• 4:10:39
  said she. I should not have supposed that my opinion of anyone could have
• 4:10:43
  admitted of such difference of conjecture, steady and matter of fact, as I
• 4:10:46
  may call myself. I have really a curiosity to see the person who can
• 4:10:52
  give occasion to such directly opposite notions. I wish he may be induced to
• 4:10:56
  call here, and when he does, Mary, you may depend on hearing
• 4:11:00
  my opinion, but I am determined not to judge him beforehand. You will
• 4:11:05
  not like him. I will answer for it. Lady Russell began talking of
• 4:11:09
  something else. Mary spoke with animation of their meeting with, or rather missing,
• 4:11:13
  mister Elliot. So extraordinarily he is a man, said Lady Russell,
• 4:11:18
  whom I have no wish to see. His declining to be on cordial terms
• 4:11:22
  with the head of his family has left a very strong impression in his disfavor
• 4:11:26
  with me. This decision checked Mary's eagerness and stopped her short in the midst
• 4:11:31
  of the Elliot countenance. With regard to Captain Wentworth. Though Anne hazarded no
• 4:11:37
  inquiries, there was voluntary communication sufficient his spirits have been greatly recovering lately,
• 4:11:43
  as might be expected, as Louisa improved, he had improved, and he
• 4:11:48
  was now quite a different creature from what he had been the first week.
• 4:11:52
  He had not seen Louisa, and was so extremely fearful of any ill consequence
• 4:11:56
  to her from an interview that he did not press for it at all,
• 4:12:01
  and on the contrary, seemed to have a plan of going away for a
• 4:12:03
  week or ten days till her head was stronger. He had talked of going
• 4:12:07
  down to Plymouth for a week and wanted to persuade Captain Benwick to go with
• 4:12:11
  him, but as Charles maintained to the last, Captain Benwick seemed much more
• 4:12:16
  disposed to ride over to Kellynch. There can be no doubt that Lady Russell
• 4:12:22
  and Anne were both occasionally thinking of Captain Benwick. From this time. Lady
• 4:12:26
  Russell could not hear the door bell without feeling it might be his herald,
• 4:12:31
  nor could Anne return from any stroll of solitary indulgence in her father's grounds,
• 4:12:35
  or any visit of charity in the village without wondering whether she might see him
• 4:12:39
  or hear of him. Captain Benwick came not, however, he was either
• 4:12:45
  less disposed for it than Charles had imagined, or he was too shy,
• 4:12:48
  and after giving him a week's indulgence, Lady Russell determined him to be unworthy
• 4:12:54
  of the interest which he had been beginning to excite. The Musgroves came back
• 4:13:00
  to receive their happy boys and girls from school, bringing with them Missus Harville's
• 4:13:03
  little children to improve the noise of Uppercross and lessen that of Lyme. Henrietta
• 4:13:09
  remained with Louisa, but all the rest of the family were again in their
• 4:13:13
  usual quarters. Lady Russell and Anne paid their compliments to them once, when
• 4:13:18
  Anne could not but feel that Uppercross was already quite alive again, though neither
• 4:13:24
  Henrietta nor Louisa, nor Charles Hayter nor Captain Wentworth were there. The room
• 4:13:30
  presented as strong a contrast as could be wished to the last state she had
• 4:13:33
  seen it in. Immediately surrounding Missus Musgrove were the little Harvilles, whom she
• 4:13:39
  was sedulously guarding from the tyranny of the two children from the cottage expressly arrived
• 4:13:43
  to amuse them. On one side was a table occupied by some chattering girls
• 4:13:48
  cutting up silk and gold paper, and on the other were trestles and trays
• 4:13:52
  bending under the weight of brawn, and cold pies, where riotous boys were
• 4:13:56
  holding high revel. The whole completed by a roaring Christmas fire, which seemed
• 4:14:03
  determined to be heard in spite of all the noise of the others. Charles
• 4:14:07
  and Mary also came in, of course, during their visit, and mister
• 4:14:11
  Musgrove made a point of paying his respects to Lady Russell, and sat down
• 4:14:16
  close to her for ten minutes, talking with a very raised voice, but
• 4:14:20
  from the clamor of the children on his knees generally in vain. It was
• 4:14:24
  a fine family piece. Anne, judging from her own temperament, would have
• 4:14:31
  deemed such a domestic hurricane a bad restorative of the nerves which Louise's illness must
• 4:14:35
  have so greatly shaken. But missus Musgrove, who got Anne near her on
• 4:14:41
  purpose to thank her most cordially again and again for all her attentions to them,
• 4:14:46
  concluded a short recapitulation of what she had suffered herself, by observing with
• 4:14:50
  a happy glance round the room, that after all she had gone through,
• 4:14:54
  nothing was so likely to do her good as a little quiet cheerfulness at home.
• 4:15:01
  Louisa was now recovering a pace her mother could even think of her being
• 4:15:05
  able to join their party at home before her brothers and sisters went to school
• 4:15:09
  again. The Harvilles had promised to come with her and stay it up across
• 4:15:15
  whenever she returned. Captain Wentworth was gone for the present to see his brother
• 4:15:20
  in Shropshire. I hope I shall remember in future, said Lady Russell,
• 4:15:24
  as soon as they were reseated in the carriage. Not to call it up
• 4:15:28
  across in the Christmas holidays. Everybody has their taste in noises as well as
• 4:15:33
  in other matters, and sounds are quite innoxious or most distressing by their sort
• 4:15:37
  rather than their quantity. When Lady Russell not long afterwards was entering Bath on
• 4:15:43
  a wet afternoon, and driving through the long course of streets from the Old
• 4:15:46
  Bridge to Camden Place, amidst the dash of other carriages, the heavy rumble
• 4:15:50
  of carts and drays, the bawling of newspaper men, muffin men and milkmen,
• 4:15:54
  and the ceaseless clink of patterns, she made no complaints. No,
• 4:16:00
  these were noises which belonged to the winter pleasures. Her spirits rose under their
• 4:16:04
  influence, and like missus Musgrove, she was feeling, though not saying,
• 4:16:10
  that after being long in the country, nothing could be so good for her
• 4:16:14
  as a little quiet, cheerfulness at home. Anne did not share these feelings.
• 4:16:19
  She persisted in a very determined, though very silent disinclination for Bath.
• 4:16:25
  Caught the first dim view of the extensive buildings, smoking in rain, without
• 4:16:30
  any wish of seeing them better. Felt their progress through the streets to be,
• 4:16:33
  however, disagreeable, yet too rapid for who would be glad to see
• 4:16:37
  her when she arrived, and looked back with fond regret to the bustles of
• 4:16:44
  Upper Cross and the seclusion of Kellynch. Elizabeth's last letter had communicated a piece
• 4:16:51
  of news of some interest. Mister Elliot was in Bath. He had called
• 4:16:56
  in Camden Place, had called a second time. A third had been and
• 4:17:00
  appointedly attentive. If Elizabeth and her father did not deceive themselves, had been
• 4:17:04
  taking much pains to seek the acquaintance and proclaim the value of the connection,
• 4:17:10
  as he had formerly taken pains to show neglect. This was very wonderful if
• 4:17:15
  it were true, and Lady Russell was in a state of very agreeable curiosity
• 4:17:19
  and perplexity about mister Elliot, already recanting the sentiment she had lately expressed to
• 4:17:25
  Mary of his being a man whom she had no wish to see. She
• 4:17:30
  had a great wish to see him. If he really sought to reconcile himself
• 4:17:33
  like a dutiful branch, he must be forgiven for having dismembered himself from the
• 4:17:38
  paternal tree. Anne was not animated to an equal pitch by the circumstance,
• 4:17:44
  but she felt that she would rather see mister Elliot again than not, which
• 4:17:48
  was more than she could say for many other persons in Bath. She was
• 4:17:52
  put down in Camden Place, and Lady Russell then drove on to her own
• 4:17:56
  lodgings in Rivers Street. End of Chapter fourteen of Persuasion. Chapter fifteen of
• 4:18:06
  Persuasion, Sir Walter had taken a very good house in Camden Place, a
• 4:18:11
  lofty, dignified situation such as becomes a man of consequence, and both he
• 4:18:15
  and Elizabeth were settled there, much to their satisfaction. Anne entered it with
• 4:18:22
  a sinking heart, anticipating an imprisonment of many months, and anxiously saying to
• 4:18:26
  herself, Oh, when shall I see you again? A degree of unexpected
• 4:18:32
  cordiality. However, in the welcome she received did her good. Her father
• 4:18:37
  and sister were glad to see her for the sake of showing her the house
• 4:18:40
  and furniture, and met her with kindness. Her making a fourth when they
• 4:18:45
  sat down to dinner was noticed as an advantage. Missus Clay was very pleasant
• 4:18:52
  and very smiling, but her courtesies and smiles were more a matter of course.
• 4:18:57
  Anne had always felt that she would pretend what was proper on her arrival,
• 4:19:02
  but the complaisance of the others was unlooked for. They were evidently in
• 4:19:07
  excellent spirits, and she was soon to listen to the causes. They had
• 4:19:11
  no inclination to listen to her. After laying out for some compliments of being
• 4:19:15
  deeply regretted in their old neighborhood, which Anne could not pay, they had
• 4:19:21
  only a few faint inquiries to make before the talk must be all their own.
• 4:19:26
  Uppercross excited no interest, Kellynch very little. It was all Bath.
• 4:19:33
  They had the pleasure of assuring her that Bath more than answered their expectations in
• 4:19:37
  every respect. Their house was undoubtedly the best in Camden Place. Their drawing
• 4:19:44
  rooms had many decided advantages over all the others, which they had either seen
• 4:19:48
  or heard of, and the superiority was not less in the style of the
• 4:19:52
  fitting up or the taste of the furniture. Their acquaintance was exceedingly sought.
• 4:19:56
  After everybody was wanted to visit them. They had drawn back from many introductions,
• 4:20:03
  and still were perpetually having cards left by people of whom they knew nothing.
• 4:20:08
  Here were funds of enjoyments. Could and wonder that her father and sister
• 4:20:14
  were happy. She might not wonder, but she must sigh that her father
• 4:20:18
  should feel no degradation in his change, should see nothing to regret in the
• 4:20:22
  duties and dignity of the resident landholder, should find so much to be vain
• 4:20:27
  of in the littleness of a town. And she must sigh and smile and
• 4:20:33
  wonder too. As Elizabeth threw open the folding doors and walked with exultation from
• 4:20:38
  one drawing room to the other, boasting of their space at the possibility of
• 4:20:44
  that woman who had been mistress of Kellynch Hall finding extent to be proud of.
• 4:20:48
  Between two walls perhaps thirty feet asunder. But this was not all which
• 4:20:55
  they had to make them happy. They had mister Elliot too, and a
• 4:21:00
  great deal to hear of mister Elliot. He was not only pardoned, they
• 4:21:03
  were delighted with him. He had been in Bath about a fortnight. He
• 4:21:07
  had passed through Bath in November in his way to London, when the intelligence
• 4:21:11
  of Sir Walters being settled there had of course reached him, though only twenty
• 4:21:15
  four hours in the place, but he had not been able to avail himself
• 4:21:18
  of it. But he had now been a fortnight in Bath, and his
• 4:21:22
  first object on arriving had meant to leave his card in Camden Place, following
• 4:21:27
  it up by such assiduous endeavors to meet, and when they did meet,
• 4:21:33
  by such great openness of conduct, such readiness to apologize for the past,
• 4:21:37
  such solicitude to be received as a relation again that their former good understanding was
• 4:21:44
  completely re established. They had not a fault to find in him. He
• 4:21:49
  had explained away all the appearance of neglect on his own side. It had
• 4:21:55
  originated in misapprehension entirely. He had never had an idea of throwing him off.
• 4:22:00
  He had feared that he was thrown off, but knew not why,
• 4:22:03
  and delicacy had kept him silent. Upon the hint of having spoken disrespectfully or
• 4:22:10
  carelessly of the family and the family honors. He was quite indignant. He
• 4:22:15
  who had ever boasted of being an elliot, and whose feelings as to connection
• 4:22:18
  were only too strict to suit the unfeudal tone of the present day. He
• 4:22:23
  was astonished, indeed, But his character and general conduct must refute it.
• 4:22:30
  He could refer, Sir Walter, to all who knew him, and certainly
• 4:22:33
  the pains he had been taking on this the first opportunity of reconciliation to be
• 4:22:37
  restored to the footing of a relation, and heir presumptive was a strong proof
• 4:22:42
  of his opinions on the subject. The circumstances of his marriage, too,
• 4:22:48
  were found to admit of much extenuation. This was an article not to be
• 4:22:52
  entered on by himself, but a very intimate friend of his, a Colonel
• 4:22:56
  Wallace, a highly respectable man. Perfectly the gentleman had nothing i looking man,
• 4:23:02
  Sir Walter added, who was living in very good style in Marlborough buildings,
• 4:23:07
  and had, at his own particular request, been admitted to their acquaintance
• 4:23:10
  through mister Elliot had mentioned one or two things relative to the marriage, which
• 4:23:15
  made a material difference in the discredit of it. Colonel Wallace had known mister
• 4:23:19
  Elliot long, had been well acquainted also with his wife, had perfectly understood
• 4:23:25
  the whole story. She was certainly not a woman of family, but well
• 4:23:30
  educated, accomplished, rich, and excessively in love with his friend. There
• 4:23:34
  had been the charm she had sought him. Without that attraction, not all
• 4:23:41
  her money would have tempted Eliot, And Sir Walter was moreover assured of her
• 4:23:45
  having been a very fine woman. Here was a great deal to soften the
• 4:23:49
  business. A very fine woman with a large fortune in love with him.
• 4:23:55
  Sir Walter seemed to admit it as a complete apology, and though Elizabeth could
• 4:23:59
  not see the circumstance in quite so favorable a light, she allowed it to
• 4:24:03
  be a great extenuation. Mister Elliot had called repeatedly, had dined with them
• 4:24:08
  once, evidently delighted by the distinction of being asked for they gave no dinners
• 4:24:14
  in general, delighted in short, by every proof of constantly notice and placing
• 4:24:19
  his whole happiness in being on intimate terms in Camden Place. Anne listened,
• 4:24:26
  but without quite understanding it. Allowances, large allowances she knew must be made
• 4:24:32
  for the ideas of those who spoke. She heard it all under embellishment,
• 4:24:37
  or that sounded extravagant or irrational in the progress of the reconciliation might have no
• 4:24:42
  origin, but in the language of the relators. Still, however, she
• 4:24:47
  had the sensation of there being something more than immediately appeared in mister Elliot's wishing,
• 4:24:52
  after an interval of so many years, to be well received by them.
• 4:24:56
  In a worldly view, he had nothing to gain by being on terms
• 4:25:00
  with Sir Walter, nothing to risk by a state of variance. In all
• 4:25:06
  probability, he was already the richer of the two, and the Kellynch estate
• 4:25:10
  would as surely be his hereafter. As the title a sensible man, and
• 4:25:15
  he had looked like a very sensible man, why should it be an object
• 4:25:18
  to him? She could only offer one solution. It was perhaps for Elizabeth's
• 4:25:25
  sake. There might really have been a liking formerly, though convenience and accident
• 4:25:30
  had drawn him a different way, And now that he could afford to please
• 4:25:34
  himself, he might mean to pay his addresses to her. Elizabeth was certainly
• 4:25:41
  very handsome, with well bred, elegant manners, and her character might never
• 4:25:45
  have been penetrated by mister Elliot knowing her but in public and when very young
• 4:25:49
  himself. How her temper and understanding might bear the investigation of his present keener
• 4:25:56
  time of life was another concern, and rather a fearful one. Most earnestly
• 4:26:02
  did she wish that he might not be too nice or too observant if Elizabeth
• 4:26:06
  were his object, and that Elizabeth was disposed to believe herself so, and
• 4:26:11
  that her friend, missus Clay was encouraging The idea seemed apparent by a glance
• 4:26:15
  or two between them. While mister Elliot's frequent visits were talked of, Anne
• 4:26:22
  mentioned the glimpses she had had of him at Lime, but without being much
• 4:26:26
  attended to. Oh, yes, perhaps it had been mister Elliot. They
• 4:26:32
  did not know it might be him. Perhaps they could not listen to her
• 4:26:37
  description of him. They were describing him themselves. Sir Walter especially, he
• 4:26:42
  did justice to his very gentlemanlike appearance, his air of elegance and fashion,
• 4:26:47
  his good shaped face, his sensible eye. But at the same time must
• 4:26:52
  lament his being very much underhung, an effect which time seemed to have increased.
• 4:26:57
  Nor could he pretend to say that ten years had not altered almost every
• 4:27:02
  feature for the worse. Mister Elliott appeared to think that he Sir Walter was
• 4:27:07
  looking exactly as he had done when they last parted, But Sir Walter had
• 4:27:12
  not been able to return the compliment entirely, which had embarrassed him. He
• 4:27:18
  did not mean to complain, however, mister Elliot was better to look at
• 4:27:22
  than most men, and he had no objection to being seen with him anywhere.
• 4:27:26
  Mister Elliot and his friends in Marlborough Buildings were talked of the whole evening.
• 4:27:33
  Calonel Wallace had been sery patient to be introduced to them, and mister
• 4:27:37
  Eliot so anxious that he should. And there was a Missus Wallace at present
• 4:27:41
  note only to them by description, as she was in daily expectation of her
• 4:27:45
  confinement, But mister Elliot spoke of her as a most charming woman, quite
• 4:27:52
  worthy of being known and come to place, And as soon as she recovered
• 4:27:55
  they were to be acquainted. Sir Walter thought much of Missus Waller. She
• 4:28:00
  was said to be an excessively pretty woman, beautiful. He longed to see
• 4:28:04
  her. He hoped she might make some amends for the many very plain faces
• 4:28:10
  he was continually passing in the streets. The worst of Bath was the number
• 4:28:15
  of its plain women. He did not mean to say that there were no
• 4:28:19
  pretty women, but the number of the plane was out of all proportion.
• 4:28:23
  He had frequently observed as he walked that one handsome face would be followed by
• 4:28:29
  thirty or five and thirty frights. And once, as he had stood in
• 4:28:33
  a shop on Bond Street, he had counted eighty seven women go by,
• 4:28:37
  one after another, without there being a tolerable face among them. It had
• 4:28:44
  been a frosty morning, to be sure, a sharp frost which hardly one
• 4:28:48
  woman in a thousand could stand the test of. But still there certainly were
• 4:28:52
  a dreadful multitude of ugly women in Bath, And as for the men,
• 4:28:57
  they were infinitely worse. Such scarecraze as the streets were full of. It
• 4:29:03
  is evident how little the women were used to the sight of anything tolerable by
• 4:29:07
  the effect which a man of decent appearance produced. He had never walked anywhere
• 4:29:11
  arm in arm with Colonel Wallace, who was a fine military figure, who
• 4:29:15
  was a fine military figure, though sandy haired, without observing that every woman's
• 4:29:22
  eye was upon him. Every woman's eye was sure to be upon Colonel Wallace.
• 4:29:26
  Modest, Sir Walter, he was not allowed to escape. However,
• 4:29:32
  his daughter and missus Clare united in hinting that Colonel Wallace's companion might have as
• 4:29:36
  good a figure as Colonel Wallace, and certainly was not sandy haired. How
• 4:29:41
  is Mary looking, said Sir Walter, in the height of his good humor.
• 4:29:45
  The last time I saw her she had a read news. But I
• 4:29:48
  hope that may not happen every day. Oh no, that must have been
• 4:29:52
  quite accidental. In general, she has been in very good health and very
• 4:29:56
  good look since Nicholas. If I thought it would not tempted to give out
• 4:30:00
  chop Winds and Gregg Hawse, I would send her a new hat. And
• 4:30:03
  police Anne was considering whether she should venture to suggest that a gown or a
• 4:30:08
  cap would not be liable to any such misuse. When a knock at the
• 4:30:12
  door suspended everything. A knock at the door, and so late it was
• 4:30:18
  ten o'clock. Could it be mister Eliot? They knew he was to dine
• 4:30:22
  in Lounesden Crescent. It was possible that he might stop in his way home
• 4:30:26
  to ask them how they did. They could think of no one else.
• 4:30:30
  Missus Clay decidedly thought it mister Elliot's knock. Missus Clay was right, with
• 4:30:36
  all the state which a butler and foot boy could give. Mister Elliot was
• 4:30:41
  ushered into the room. It was the same, the very same man,
• 4:30:45
  with no difference but of dress. Anne drew a little back, while the
• 4:30:51
  others received his compliments, and her sister his apologies for calling at so unusual
• 4:30:56
  an hour. But he could not be so near without wish to know that
• 4:31:00
  neither she nor her friend had taken cold the day before, et cetera,
• 4:31:03
  et cetera. Which was all as politely done and as politely taken as possible.
• 4:31:10
  But her part must follow. Then, Sir Walter talked of his youngest
• 4:31:15
  daughter. Mister Elliot must give him leave to present him to his youngest daughter.
• 4:31:19
  There was no occasion for remembering. Mary. And Anne, smiling and
• 4:31:23
  blushing very becomingly showed to mister Elliot the pretty features which he had by no
• 4:31:29
  means forgotten, and instantly saw with amusement at his little start of surprise that
• 4:31:34
  he had not been at all aware of who she was. He looked completely
• 4:31:38
  astonished, but not more astonished than pleased. His eyes brightened, and with
• 4:31:44
  the most perfect alacrity, he welcomed the relationship, alluded to the past,
• 4:31:49
  and entreated to be received as an acquaintance. Already he was quite as good
• 4:31:53
  looking as he had appeared at Lyme. His countenance improved by speaking, and
• 4:31:59
  his manners were so exactly what they ought to be, so polished, so
• 4:32:03
  easy, so particularly agreeable, that she could compare them in excellence to any
• 4:32:08
  one person's manners. They were not the same, but they were perhaps equally
• 4:32:14
  good. He sat down with them and improved their conversation very much. There
• 4:32:19
  could be no doubt of his being a sensible man. Ten minutes were enough
• 4:32:25
  to certify that his tone, his expressions, his choice of subject, his
• 4:32:30
  knowing where to stop it was all the operation of a sensible, discerning mind.
• 4:32:36
  As soon as he could, he began to talk to her of Lyme,
• 4:32:38
  wanting to compare opinions respecting the place, but especially wanting to speak of
• 4:32:44
  the circumstance of their happening to be guests at the same inn at the same
• 4:32:47
  time to give his own route, understand something of hers, and regret that
• 4:32:52
  he should have lost such an opportunity of paying his respects to her. She
• 4:32:56
  gave him a short account of her party and b business at lyme. His
• 4:33:00
  regret increased as he listened. He had spent his whole solitary evening in the
• 4:33:06
  room adjoining theirs, had heard voices mirth continually thought they must be a most
• 4:33:11
  delightful set of people. Longed to be with them, but certainly without the
• 4:33:15
  smallest suspicion of his possessing the shadow of a right to introduce himself. If
• 4:33:22
  he had but asked who the party were, the name of Musgrove would have
• 4:33:26
  told him enough. Well. It would serve to cure him of an absurd
• 4:33:30
  practice of never asking a question at an inn, which he had adopted when
• 4:33:34
  quite a young man, on the principle of its being very ungenteel to be
• 4:33:40
  curious the notions of a young man of one or two and twenty, said
• 4:33:44
  he as to what is necessary in manners to make him quite the thing a
• 4:33:48
  more absurd, I believe than those of any other set of beings in the
• 4:33:52
  world. The folly of the means they often employ is only to be equalled
• 4:33:56
  by the folly of what they have in view. But he might not be
• 4:34:00
  addressing his reflections to Anne alone. He knew it. He was soon diffused
• 4:34:04
  again among the others, and it was only at intervals that he could return
• 4:34:08
  to lyme. His inquiries, however, produced at length an account of the
• 4:34:14
  scene she had been engaged in there soon after his leaving the place. Having
• 4:34:18
  alluded to an accident, he must hear the whole when he questioned. Sir
• 4:34:22
  Walter and Elizabeth began to question also, but the difference in their manner of
• 4:34:27
  doing it could not be unfelt. She could only compare mister Elliot to Lady
• 4:34:33
  Russell in the wish of really comprehending what had passed, and in the degree
• 4:34:37
  of concern for what she must have suffered in witnessing it. He stayed an
• 4:34:44
  hour with them. The elegant little clock on the mantelpiece had struck eleven with
• 4:34:48
  its silver sounds, and the watchman was beginning to be heard at a distance
• 4:34:52
  telling the same tale. Before mister Elliot or any of them, seemed to
• 4:34:56
  feel that he had been there long. Anne could not have supposed it possible
• 4:35:02
  that her first evening in Camden Place could have passed so well. End of
• 4:35:08
  Chapter fifteen of Persuasion. Chapter sixteen of Persuasion. There was one point which
• 4:35:15
  Anne, on returning to her family, would have been more thankful to ascertain,
• 4:35:19
  even than mister Elliot's being in love with Elizabeth, which was her husband's
• 4:35:25
  not being in love with missus Clay. And she was very far from easy
• 4:35:30
  about it. When she had been at home a few hours. On going
• 4:35:33
  down to breakfast the next morning, she found there had just been a decent
• 4:35:37
  pretense on the lady's side of meaning to leave them. She could imagine miss
• 4:35:42
  Clay to have said that now miss Anne was come, she could not suppose
• 4:35:47
  herself at all wanted. For Elizabeth was replying in a sort of whisper.
• 4:35:52
  That must not be any reason. Indeed, I assure you I feel it
• 4:35:55
  none. She's nothing to me compared to you. And she was in a
• 4:35:59
  full time to hear her father say, my dear madam, this must not
• 4:36:03
  be as yet you have seen nothing of Bath. You have been here only
• 4:36:07
  to be useful. You must not run away from us. Now you must
• 4:36:11
  stay to be acquainted with Missus Wallace, the beautiful Missus Wallace, to your
• 4:36:15
  fine mind, I will know the sight of beauty is a real gratification.
• 4:36:19
  He spoke and looked so much in earnest that Anne was not surprised to see
• 4:36:26
  Missus Clay stealing a glance at Elizabeth and herself. Her countenance perhaps might express
• 4:36:32
  some watchfulness, but the praise of the fine mind did not appear to excite
• 4:36:36
  a thought in her sister. The lady could not but yield to such joint
• 4:36:41
  entreaties, and promised to stay. In the course of the same morning,
• 4:36:45
  Anne, on her father, chancing to be alone together, he began to
• 4:36:49
  compliment her on her improved looks. He thought her less thin in her person,
• 4:36:55
  in her cheeks, her skin, her complexion greatly improved clearer. Had
• 4:37:00
  she been using anything in particular, No, nothing, merely gowland, he
• 4:37:06
  supposed, No, nothing at all. Huh. He was surprised at that,
• 4:37:11
  and added, certainly, you cannot be better than to continue as you
• 4:37:15
  are. You cannot be better than will or I should recommend to Gowland the
• 4:37:19
  constant use of gland during the spring months. Missus clear has been using it
• 4:37:23
  at my recommendation, and you see what it has done for her. You
• 4:37:27
  see how it is carried away her freckles. If Elizabeth could but have heard
• 4:37:33
  this, such personal praise might have struck her, especially as it did not
• 4:37:37
  appear to and that the freckles were at all lessened. But everything must take
• 4:37:41
  its chance. The evil of a marriage would be much diminished if Elizabeth were
• 4:37:47
  also to marry. As for herself, she might always command a home with
• 4:37:52
  Lady Russell. Lady Russell's composed mind and polite manners were put to some trial
• 4:37:57
  on this point in her course in Camden Place. The sight of missus Clay
• 4:38:03
  in such favor, and of Anne so overlooked, was a perpetual provocation to
• 4:38:07
  her there, and vexed her as much when she was away, as a
• 4:38:11
  person in bath who drinks the water, gets all the new publications, and
• 4:38:15
  has a very large acquaintance, has time to be vexed. As mister Elliot
• 4:38:21
  became known to her, she grew more charitable or more indifferent towards the others.
• 4:38:26
  His manners were an immediate recommendation, and on conversing with him she found
• 4:38:32
  the solid so fully supporting the superficial as she was at first. As she
• 4:38:37
  told Anne, almost ready to exclaim, can this be mister Elliot? And
• 4:38:41
  cannot seriously picture to herself a more agreeable or estimable man. Everything united in
• 4:38:48
  him, good understanding, correct opinions, knowledge of the world, and a
• 4:38:53
  warm heart. He had strong feelings of family attachment and family honor, without
• 4:38:59
  pride or weakness. He lived with the liberality of a man of fortune,
• 4:39:03
  without display. He judged for himself in everything essential, without defying public opinion
• 4:39:08
  in any point of worldly decorum. He was steady, observant, moderate,
• 4:39:15
  candid, never run away with by spirits or by selfishness which fancied itself,
• 4:39:19
  strong feeling, and yet with a sensibility to what was amiable and lovely and
• 4:39:26
  of value for all the felicities of domestic life, which characters of fancied enthusiasm
• 4:39:32
  and violent agitation seldom really possess. She was sure that he had not been
• 4:39:37
  happy in marriage. Colonel Wallace said it, and Lady Russell saw it.
• 4:39:42
  But it had been no unhappiness to sour his mind, nor she began pretty
• 4:39:48
  soon to suspect to prevent his thinking of a second choice. Her satisfaction in
• 4:39:53
  mister Elliot outweighed all the plague of missus Clay. It was now some years
• 4:40:00
  since Anne had begun to learn that she and her excellent friend could sometimes think
• 4:40:04
  differently, and it did not surprise her therefore, that Lady Russell should see
• 4:40:10
  nothing suspicious or inconsistent, nothing to require more motives than appeared in mister Elliot's
• 4:40:15
  great desire of a reconciliation. In Lady Russell's view, it was perfectly natural
• 4:40:22
  that mister Elliot, at a mature time of life, should feel it a
• 4:40:25
  most desirable object, and what would very generally recommend him among all sensible people
• 4:40:30
  to be on good terms with the head of his family, the simplest process
• 4:40:34
  in the world of time upon a head, naturally clear and only erring in
• 4:40:38
  the heyday of youth. Anne presumed, however, still to smile about it,
• 4:40:45
  and at last to mention listening. Lady Russell listened and looked, and
• 4:40:49
  made only this cautious reply, Elizabeth, very well time will explain. It
• 4:40:56
  was a reference to the future, which Anne, after a little observation,
• 4:41:00
  felt she must submit to. She could determine nothing at present in that house.
• 4:41:07
  Elizabeth must be first, and she was in the habit of such general
• 4:41:10
  observant as miss Eliot, that any particularity of attention seemed almost impossible. Mister
• 4:41:18
  Elliot, too, it must be remembered, had not been a widower seven
• 4:41:22
  months. A little delay on his side might be very excusable. In fact,
• 4:41:26
  Anne could never see the crape round his hat without fearing that she was
• 4:41:30
  the inexcusable one in attributing to him such imaginations. For though his marriage had
• 4:41:36
  not been very happy, still it had existed so many years that she could
• 4:41:41
  not comprehend a very rapid recovery from the awful impression of its being dissolved,
• 4:41:48
  however it might end. He was, without any question the pleasantest acquaintance in
• 4:41:52
  Bath. She saw nobody equal to him, and it was a great indulgence
• 4:41:57
  now and then to talk to him about lyme, which she seemed to have
• 4:42:02
  as lively a wish to see again and to see more of as herself.
• 4:42:07
  They went through the particulars of their first meeting a great many times. He
• 4:42:11
  gave her to understand that he had looked at her with some earnestness. She
• 4:42:15
  knew it well, and she remembered another person's look. Also, they did
• 4:42:21
  not always think alike. His value of rank and connection she perceived as greater
• 4:42:26
  than hers. It was not merely complaisance. It must be a liking to
• 4:42:32
  the cause which made him enter warmly into her father and sister's solicitudes on a
• 4:42:37
  subject which she thought unworthy to excite them. The bath paper one morning announced
• 4:42:44
  the arrival of the dowager Viscountess Dalrymple and her daughter, the honorable Miss Carteret,
• 4:42:49
  and all the comfort of Camden Place was swept away for many days for
• 4:42:55
  the Dalrymples, in Anne's opinion, most unfortunately, were cousins of the Elliotts,
• 4:43:00
  and the agony was how to introduce themselves properly. Anne had never seen
• 4:43:06
  her father and sister before in contact with nobility, and she must acknowledge herself
• 4:43:11
  disappointed. She had hoped better things from their high ideas of their own situation
• 4:43:17
  in life, and was reduced to form a wish which she had never foreseen.
• 4:43:22
  A wish that they had more pride for our cousins, Lady Daldrymple and
• 4:43:29
  Miss Catharick, our cousins, the Dallyrymples, sounded in her ears all day
• 4:43:33
  long. Sir Walter had once been in company with the late Viscounts, but
• 4:43:38
  had never seen any of the rest of the family. And the difficulties of
• 4:43:41
  the case arose from there having been a suspension of all intercourse by letters of
• 4:43:47
  ceremony ever since the death of that said late viscount, when in consequence of
• 4:43:52
  a dangerous illness of Sir Walters at the same time there had been an unlucky
• 4:43:56
  omission at Kellynch, no letter of condolence had been sent to Ireland. The
• 4:44:02
  neglect had been visited on the head of the sinner, for when poor Lady
• 4:44:07
  Elliot died herself, no letter of condolence was received at Kellynch, And consequently
• 4:44:12
  there was but too much reason to apprehend that the Dalrymples considered the relationship as
• 4:44:18
  closed. How to have this anxious business set to rights and be admitted as
• 4:44:25
  cousins again was the question, And it was a question which, in a
• 4:44:30
  more rational manner, neither Lady Russell nor mister Elliot thought unimportant family connections were
• 4:44:36
  always worth preserving, good company always worth seeking. Lady Daldrymple had taken a
• 4:44:41
  house for three months in Laura Place, who would be living in style.
• 4:44:45
  She had been at Bath the year before Lady Russell had heard her spoken of
• 4:44:49
  as a charming woman. It was very desirable that the connection be renewed,
• 4:44:55
  if it could be done without any compromise of propriety on the side of the
• 4:45:00
  Eliot's. Sir Walter, however, would choose his own means, and at
• 4:45:04
  last wrote a very fine letter of ample explanation, regrets and entreaty to his
• 4:45:10
  right's honorable cousin. Neither Lady Russell nor mister Elliot could admire the letter,
• 4:45:17
  but it did all that was wanted in bringing three lines of scrawl from the
• 4:45:21
  dowager Viscountess. The toils of the business were over, the sweets began.
• 4:45:29
  They visited in Laura Place. They had the cards of Dowager Vicontess Dalrymple and
• 4:45:33
  the honorable Miss Carteret to be arranged wherever they might be most visible. And
• 4:45:38
  oh cousins in Laura plays, our cousin, Lady Dalyrymple and Miss Carteret were
• 4:45:45
  talked of to everybody. Anne was ashamed. Had Lady Dalrymple and her daughter
• 4:45:51
  even been very agreeable, she would still have been ashamed of the agitation they
• 4:45:56
  created. But they were nothing. There was no periority of manner, accomplishment
• 4:46:02
  or understanding. Lady Dalrymple had acquired the name of a charming woman because she
• 4:46:07
  had a smile and a civil answer for everybody. Miss Carteret, with still
• 4:46:12
  less to say, was so plain and so awkward that she would never have
• 4:46:18
  been tolerated at Camden Place but for her birth. Lady Russell confessed she had
• 4:46:23
  expected something better, but yet it was an acquaintance worth having. And when
• 4:46:29
  Anne ventured to speak her own opinion of them to mister Elliot, he agreed
• 4:46:33
  to there being nothing in themselves, but still maintained that as a family connection,
• 4:46:38
  as good company, as those who would collect good company around them,
• 4:46:42
  they had their value. Anne smiled and said, my idea of good company,
• 4:46:48
  mister Elliot, is the company of clever, well informed people who have
• 4:46:52
  a great deal of conversation. That is what I call good company. You
• 4:46:56
  are mistaken, said he gently. That is not good company. That is
• 4:47:02
  the best. Good company requires only birth, education, and manners. And
• 4:47:07
  with regard to education, it is not very nice. Birth and good manners
• 4:47:11
  are essential, but a little learning is by no means a dangerous thing.
• 4:47:14
  In good company. On the contrary, it will do very well, my
• 4:47:18
  cousin, Anne shakes her head. She is not satisfied. She is fastidious,
• 4:47:22
  My dear cousin, setting down by her, you have a better right
• 4:47:26
  to be fastidious than almost any other woman I know. But will it answer?
• 4:47:30
  Will it make you happy? Will it not be wiser to accept the
• 4:47:33
  society of those good ladies in Laura place and enjoy all the advantages of the
• 4:47:37
  connection As far as possible. You may depend upon it that they will move
• 4:47:41
  in the first set in Bath this winter, And as rank is rank,
• 4:47:45
  your being known to be related to them will have its use in fixing your
• 4:47:48
  family, our family. Let me say, in that degree of consideration which
• 4:47:52
  we must all wish for, yes, sign Anne, we shall indeed be
• 4:47:56
  known to be related to them. The raging herself, and not wishing to
• 4:48:00
  be answered, she added, I certainly do think there has been by far
• 4:48:06
  too much trouble taken to procure the acquaintance. I suppose, smiling, I
• 4:48:11
  have more bride than any of you. But I confess it does vex me
• 4:48:15
  that we should be so solicitous to have the relationship acknowledged, which we may
• 4:48:19
  be very sure is a matter perfect indifference to them pardon me, dear cousin,
• 4:48:25
  you are unjust in your own claims. In London, perhaps in your
• 4:48:27
  present quiet style of living, it might be as you say. But in
• 4:48:30
  Bath, Sir Walter Elliot and his family will always be worth knowing, always
• 4:48:34
  acceptable as acquaintance. Well, Sir Anne, I certainly am proud, too
• 4:48:41
  proud to enjoy a welcome which depends so entirely upon place. I love your
• 4:48:45
  indignation, said he. It is very natural. But here you are in
• 4:48:49
  Bath, and the object is to be established here with all the credit and
• 4:48:52
  dignity which ought to belong to Sir Walter Elliot. You talk of being proud.
• 4:48:57
  I am called proud, I know, and I shall. I'll not
• 4:49:00
  wish to believe myself otherwise, for our pride, if investigated, would have
• 4:49:03
  the same object. I have no doubt, for the kind may seem a
• 4:49:07
  little different. In one point, I am sure, my dear cousin,
• 4:49:10
  he continued, speaking lower, though there was no one else in the room.
• 4:49:15
  In one point, I am sure we must feel alike, we must
• 4:49:18
  feel that every addition to your father's society among his equals or superiors, may
• 4:49:23
  be of use in diverting his thoughts from those who are beneath him. He
• 4:49:27
  looked as he spoke to the seat which missus Clay had been lately occupying a
• 4:49:33
  sufficient explanation of what he particularly meant, And though Anne could not believe in
• 4:49:37
  their having the same sort of pride, she was pleased with him for not
• 4:49:41
  liking missus Clay, and her conscience admitted that his wishing to promote her father's
• 4:49:48
  getting great acquaintance was more than excusable in the view of defeating her end of
• 4:49:55
  Chapter sixteen of Persuasion. Chapter seventeen of Persuasion. While Sir Walter and Elizabeth
• 4:50:03
  were assiduously pushing their good fortune in Laura Place, Anne was renewing an acquaintance
• 4:50:08
  of a very different description. She had called on her former governess and had
• 4:50:14
  heard from her of there being an old school fellow in Bath who had the
• 4:50:17
  two strong claims on her attention of past kindness and present suffering. Miss Hamilton,
• 4:50:25
  now missus Smith, had shown her kindness in one of those periods of
• 4:50:29
  her life when it had been most valuable. Anne had gone unhappy to school,
• 4:50:33
  grieving for the loss of a mother whom she had dearly loved, feeling
• 4:50:37
  her separation from home and suffering as a girl of fourteen, of strong sensibility
• 4:50:42
  and not high spirits must suffer at such a time. At Miss Hamilton,
• 4:50:48
  three years older than herself, but still from the want of near relations and
• 4:50:52
  of a settled home, remaining another year at school, had been useful and
• 4:50:56
  good to her in a way which had considerably lessened her mind misery, and
• 4:51:00
  could never be remembered with indifference. Miss Hamilton had left school, had married
• 4:51:07
  not long afterwards, was said to have married a man of fortune, and
• 4:51:11
  this was all that Anne had known of her till now that their Governess's account
• 4:51:15
  brought her situation forward in a bore decided but very different form. She was
• 4:51:21
  a widow and poor. Her husband had been extravagant, and at his death
• 4:51:26
  about two years before, had left his affairs dreadfully involved. She had had
• 4:51:32
  difficulties of every sort to contend with, and in addition to these distresses,
• 4:51:36
  had been afflicted with a severe rheumatic fever, which, finally settling in her
• 4:51:41
  legs, had made her for the presence a cripple. She had come to
• 4:51:45
  Bath on that account, and was now in lodgings near the hot baths,
• 4:51:48
  living in a very humble way, unable even to afford herself the comfort of
• 4:51:53
  a servant, and of course almost excluded from society. There a mutual friend
• 4:52:00
  answered for the satisfaction which a visit from miss Elliot would give Missus Smith,
• 4:52:04
  and Anne therefore lost no time in going. She mentioned nothing of what she
• 4:52:10
  had heard or what she intended at home, It would excite no proper interest
• 4:52:15
  there. She only consulted Lady Russell, who entered thoroughly into her sentiments,
• 4:52:19
  and was most happy to convey her as near to Missus Smith's lodgings in Westgate
• 4:52:23
  Buildings as Anne chose to be taken. The visit was paid. Their acquaintance
• 4:52:30
  re established their interest in each other more than rekindled. The first ten minutes
• 4:52:36
  had its awkwardness and its emotion. Twelve years were gone since they had parted,
• 4:52:41
  and each presented a somewhat different person from what the other had imagined.
• 4:52:45
  Twelve years had changed Anne from the blooming, silent, unformed girl of fifteen
• 4:52:51
  to the elegant little woman of seven and twenty, with every beauty except bloom,
• 4:52:56
  and with manners as consciously writes as they were in very gentle and twelve
• 4:53:00
  years had transformed the fine looking, well grown Miss Hamilton, in all the
• 4:53:06
  glow of health and confidence of superiority, into a poor, infirm, helpless
• 4:53:11
  widow receiving the visit of her former protegee as a favor. But all that
• 4:53:15
  was uncomfortable in the meeting had soon passed away and left only the interesting charm
• 4:53:21
  of remembering former partialities. In talking over old times, Anne found in Missus
• 4:53:27
  Smith the good sense and agreeable manners which she had almost ventured to depend on,
• 4:53:33
  and a disposition to converse and be cheerful beyond her expectation. Neither the
• 4:53:37
  dissipations of the past, and she had lived very much in the world,
• 4:53:41
  nor the restrictions of the present. Neither sickness nor sorrow seemed to have closed
• 4:53:47
  her heart or ruined her spirits. In the course of a second visit,
• 4:53:52
  she talked with great openness, and Anne's astonishment increased. She could scarcely imagine
• 4:53:57
  a more cheerless situation in itself and Missus Smith's. She had been very fond
• 4:54:03
  of her husband, she had buried him. She had been used to affluence.
• 4:54:07
  It was gone. She had no child to connect her with life and
• 4:54:11
  happiness again, no relations to assist in the arrangement of perplexed affairs, no
• 4:54:15
  health to make all the rest supportable. Her accommodations were limited to a noisy
• 4:54:21
  parlor and a dark bedroom behind, with no possibility of moving from one to
• 4:54:26
  the other without assistance, which there was only one servant in the house to
• 4:54:30
  afford. And she never quitted the house but to be conveyed into the warm
• 4:54:34
  bath. Yet in spite of all this, Anne had reason to believe that
• 4:54:41
  she had moments only of languor and depression to hours of occupation and enjoyment.
• 4:54:47
  How could it be? She watched, observed, reflected, and finally determined
• 4:54:52
  that this was not a case of fortitude or of resignation. Only a submissive
• 4:54:57
  spirit might be patient. Strong understanding would supply resolution. But here was something
• 4:55:03
  more. Here was that elasticity of mind, that disposition to be comforted,
• 4:55:10
  that power of turning readily from evil to good, and a finding employment which
• 4:55:14
  carried her out of herself, which was from nature alone. It was the
• 4:55:19
  choicest gift of heaven. And Anne viewed her friend as one of those instances
• 4:55:26
  in which, by a merciful appointment, it seems designed to counterbalance almost every
• 4:55:32
  other want. There had been a time, missus Smith told her, when
• 4:55:37
  her spirits had nearly failed, she could not call herself an invalid now compared
• 4:55:41
  with her state on first reaching Bath, then she had indeed been a pitiable
• 4:55:47
  object, for she had caught cold on the journey, and had hardly taken
• 4:55:51
  possession of her lodgings before she was again confined to her bed and suffering under
• 4:55:56
  severe and constant pain, And all this among strays with the absolute necessity of
• 4:56:02
  having a regular nurse, and for nances at that moment particularly unfit to meet
• 4:56:07
  any extraordinary expense. She had weathered it, however, and could truly say
• 4:56:12
  that it had done her good. It had increased her comforts by making her
• 4:56:17
  feel herself to be in good hands. She had seen too much of the
• 4:56:21
  world to expect sudden or disinterested attachment anywhere. But her illness had proved to
• 4:56:26
  her that her Landlady had a character to preserve and would not use her ill
• 4:56:30
  And she had meant particularly fortunate in her nurse, as a sister of her
• 4:56:36
  landlady, a nurse by profession, and who had always a home in that
• 4:56:40
  house when unemployed, chanced to be at liberty just in time to attend her,
• 4:56:45
  and she said, missus Smith, besides nursing me most admirably, has
• 4:56:51
  really proved an invaluable acquaintance. As soon as I could use my hands,
• 4:56:56
  she taught me to knit, which has been a great amusement. And she
• 4:57:00
  put me in the way of making these little threadcases, pincushions and card racks,
• 4:57:06
  which you always find me so busy about, and which supply me with
• 4:57:10
  the means of doing a little good to one or two very poor families in
• 4:57:12
  this neighborhood. She has a large acquaintance, of course, professionally among those
• 4:57:18
  who can afford to buy, and she disposes of my merchandise. She always
• 4:57:25
  takes the right time for applying. Everybody's heart is open, you know when
• 4:57:29
  they have recently escaped from severe pain or are recovering the blessing of health,
• 4:57:34
  and Nurse Rook thoroughly understands when to speak. She is a shrewd, intelligent,
• 4:57:41
  sensible woman. Hers is a line for seeing human nature, and she
• 4:57:45
  has a fund of good sense and observation, which, as a companion,
• 4:57:49
  make her infinitely superior to thousands of those who, having only received the best
• 4:57:55
  education in the world know nothing worth attending. To call it god gossip,
• 4:58:00
  if you will. But when Nurse Wook has half an hour's leisure to bestow
• 4:58:03
  on me, she is sure to have something to relate that is entertaining and
• 4:58:07
  profitable, something that makes one know one's species better. One likes to hear
• 4:58:12
  what is going on to be au fait as to the newest modes of being
• 4:58:17
  trifling and silly to me, who lives so much alone. Her conversation,
• 4:58:22
  I assure you, is a treat, and far from wishing to cavil at
• 4:58:26
  the pleasure, replied, I can easily believe it. Women of that class
• 4:58:30
  have great opportunities, and if they are intelligent, may be well worth listening
• 4:58:36
  to such varieties of human nature as they are in the habit of witnessing.
• 4:58:41
  And it is not merely in its follies that they are well read, for
• 4:58:44
  they see it occasionally under every circumstance that can be most interesting or affecting,
• 4:58:51
  what instances must pass before them of ardent, disinterested, self denying, attachment,
• 4:58:56
  of heroism, fortitude, patience, resignation, of all the conflicts and
• 4:59:02
  all the sacrifices that ennoble us most a sick chamber may often furnish the worth
• 4:59:07
  of volumes, yes that, Missus Smith. More doubtingly, sometimes it may,
• 4:59:15
  though I fear its lessons are not often in the elevated style you describe
• 4:59:21
  here and there. Human nature may be great in times of trial, but
• 4:59:26
  generally speaking, it is its weakness and not its strength that appears in a
• 4:59:30
  sick chamber. It is selfishness and impatience, rather than generosity and fortitude that
• 4:59:37
  one hears of. There is so little real friendship in the world, and
• 4:59:42
  unfortunately, speaking low and tremulously, there are so many who forget to think
• 4:59:48
  seriously till it is almost too late, and are the misery of such feelings.
• 4:59:55
  The husband had not been what he ought, and the wife had been
• 4:59:57
  larned among that part a mankind, which made her think worse of the world
• 5:00:02
  than she hoped it deserved. It was but a passing emotion. However,
• 5:00:07
  with Missus Smith she shook it off, and soon added, in a different
• 5:00:11
  tone, I do not suppose the situation my friend Missus Rook is in at
• 5:00:15
  present, will furnish much either to interest or defy me. She is only
• 5:00:18
  nursing. Missus Wallace of Marlborough Buildings. A mere pretty, silly, expensive,
• 5:00:23
  fashionable woman, I believe, and of course will have nothing to report
• 5:00:27
  but of lace and finery. I mean to make my profit of Missus Wallace.
• 5:00:32
  However, she has plenty of money, and I intend she shall buy
• 5:00:37
  all the high priced things I have in hand. Now, Anne had called
• 5:00:41
  several times on her friend before the existence of such a person was known in
• 5:00:45
  Camden Place. At last it became necessary to speak of her. Sir Walter,
• 5:00:51
  Elizabeth and Missus Clay returned one morning from Laura Place with a sudden invitation
• 5:00:56
  from Lady Dalrymple for the same evening, and Anne was already engaged to spend
• 5:01:00
  that evening in Westgate Buildings. She was not sorry for the excuse. They
• 5:01:06
  were only asked. She was sure because Lady Dalrymple, being kept at home
• 5:01:11
  by a bad cold, was glad to make use of the relationship which had
• 5:01:15
  been so pressed on her, and she declined on her own accounts with great
• 5:01:18
  alacrity. She was engaged to spend the evening with an old schoolfellow. They
• 5:01:25
  were not much interested in anything relative to Anne, but still there were questions
• 5:01:30
  enough asked to make it understood what this old schoolfellow was and Elizabeth was disdainful.
• 5:01:36
  And Sir Walter Severe Whiskit Buildings, said he? And who is miss
• 5:01:41
  and Elliot to be visiting in Wisgate Buildings? And Missus Smith a widow Missus
• 5:01:48
  Smith? And who was her husband one of five thousand mister Smiths whose names
• 5:01:53
  had remit with everywhere? And what is her attraction? That sheears old and
• 5:01:59
  sick? Upon my word? Miss ad Eliot, you're the most extraordinary taste.
• 5:02:06
  Everything that revolts other people low company, poultry rooms, fowl a are
• 5:02:11
  disgusting, associations are inviting to you. But surely you may put off this
• 5:02:17
  old lady to tomorrow. She is not so near her end, I presume,
• 5:02:21
  but that she may hope to see another day. What is her age?
• 5:02:26
  Forty? No, sir, she is not one and thirty. But
• 5:02:30
  I do not think I can put off my engagement because it is their only
• 5:02:33
  evening for some time, which will at once suit her and myself. She
• 5:02:37
  goes into the warm bath tomorrow and for the rest of the week. You
• 5:02:40
  know we are engaged. But what does Lady Russell think of this acquaintance,
• 5:02:45
  asked Elizabeth. She sees nothing to blame in it, replied Dane. On
• 5:02:49
  the contrary, she approves it, and has generally taken me when I have
• 5:02:53
  called on Missus Smith. Westgate Buildings must have been rather surprised by the appearance
• 5:02:59
  of a caddy thrown up near its pavement, observed Sir Walter Henry Russell's widow
• 5:03:04
  indeed has no honors to distinguish her arms. But still it is a handsome
• 5:03:10
  equipage, and no doubt it's well known to convey a Miss Eliot, a
• 5:03:15
  widow, Missus Smith, lodging in Westgate Buildings, a poor widow, barely
• 5:03:21
  able to live between thirty and forty, a mere Missus Smith, and every
• 5:03:26
  day Missus Smith of old people and old names in the world, to be
• 5:03:30
  the chosen friend of miss Anne Eliot, and to be preferred by her to
• 5:03:34
  her own family connections among the nobility of England and Ireland. Missus Smith,
• 5:03:40
  such a name. Missus Clay, who had been present while all this passed,
• 5:03:45
  now thought it advisable to leave the room. And Anne could have said
• 5:03:49
  much, and did long to say a little in defense of her friend's not
• 5:03:53
  very dissimilar claims to theirs, but her sense of personal respect to her father.
• 5:03:59
  Proved she made no reply, she left it to himself to recollect that
• 5:04:06
  missus Smith was not the only widow in Bath between thirty and forty with little
• 5:04:10
  to live on and no surname of dignity. Anne kept her appointment, the
• 5:04:15
  others kept theirs, and of course she heard the next morning that they had
• 5:04:19
  had a delightful evening. She had been the only one of the set absent,
• 5:04:25
  for Sir Walter and Elizabeth had not only been quite at her Ladyship's service
• 5:04:29
  themselves, but had actually been happy to be employed by her in collecting others,
• 5:04:33
  and had been at the trouble of inviting both Lady Russell and mister Elliot.
• 5:04:37
  And mister Elliot had made a point of leaving Colonel Wallace early, and
• 5:04:41
  Lady Russell had fresh arranged all her evening engagements in order to wait on her.
• 5:04:48
  Anne had the whole history of all that such an evening could supply from
• 5:04:52
  Lady Russell to her. Its greatest interest must be in having been very much
• 5:04:56
  talked of between her friend and mister Eliot, in having been wished for,
• 5:05:02
  regretted, and at the same time honored for staying away in such a cause.
• 5:05:07
  Her kind compassionate visits to this old schoolfellow, sick and reduced, seemed
• 5:05:11
  to have quite delighted mister Elliot. He thought her a most extraordinary young woman,
• 5:05:17
  in her temper, manners, mind, a model of female excellence.
• 5:05:22
  He could meet even Lady Russell in a discussion of her merits. And Anne
• 5:05:26
  could not be given to understand so much by her friend, could not know
• 5:05:30
  herself to be so highly rated by a sensible man without many of those agreeable
• 5:05:36
  sensations which her friend meant to create. Lady Russell was now perfectly decided in
• 5:05:41
  her opinion of mister Elliot. She was as much convinced of his meaning to
• 5:05:45
  gain Anne in time as of his deserving her, and was beginning to calculate
• 5:05:51
  the number of weeks which would free him from all the remaining restraints of widowhood
• 5:05:56
  and leave him at liberty to exert his most open powers of pleasing. She
• 5:06:00
  would not speak to Anne with half the certainty she felt on the subject.
• 5:06:04
  She would venture on little more than hints of what might be her after of
• 5:06:10
  a possible attachment on his side of the desirableness of the alliance. Supposing such
• 5:06:15
  attachment to be real and returned. Anne heard her and made no violent exclamations.
• 5:06:22
  She only smiled, blushed, and gently shook her head. I am
• 5:06:26
  no match maker, as you well know, said Lady Russell, being too
• 5:06:30
  much aware of the uncertainty of all human events and calculations. I only mean
• 5:06:37
  that if mister Elliot should some time hence pay his addresses to you, and
• 5:06:41
  if you should be disposed to accept him, I think there would be every
• 5:06:45
  possibility of your being happy together, a most suitable connection. Everybody must consider
• 5:06:49
  it, but I think it might be a very happy one. Mister Elliot
• 5:06:53
  is an exceedingly agreeable man, and in many respects I think highly of him,
• 5:06:59
  said Anne. But we should not suit. Lady Russell let this pass
• 5:07:03
  and only said in rejoinder, I own that to be able to regard you
• 5:07:08
  as the future mistress of Kellynch, the future Lady Elliot, to look forward
• 5:07:12
  to seeing you occupying your dear mother's place, succeeding to all her rights and
• 5:07:18
  all her popularity, as well as to all her virtues, would be the
• 5:07:21
  highest possible gratification to me. You are your mother's self in countenance and disposition,
• 5:07:27
  and if I might be allowed to fancy you as she was in situation
• 5:07:30
  and name and home, presiding and blessing in the same spot, and only
• 5:07:36
  superior to her in being more highly valued. My dearest Anne, he would
• 5:07:41
  give me more delights than has often felt at my time of life. Anne
• 5:07:45
  was obliged to turn away, to rise, to walk to a distant table,
• 5:07:48
  and leaning there in pretended employment, try to subdue the feelings this picture
• 5:07:53
  excited. For a few moments, her imagination and her heart were bewitched.
• 5:08:00
  The idea of becoming what her mother had been, of having the precious name
• 5:08:03
  of Lady Eliot first revived in herself, of being restored to Kellynch calling at
• 5:08:10
  her home again, her home forever, was a charm which she could not
• 5:08:14
  immediately resist. Lady Russell said not another word, willing to leave the matter
• 5:08:19
  to its own operation, and believing that could mister Elliot at that moment,
• 5:08:25
  with propriety have spoken for himself? She believed, in short, what Anne
• 5:08:30
  did not believe. The same image of mister Eliot speaking for himself brought Anne
• 5:08:36
  to composure again. The charm of Kellynch and of Lady Eliot all faded away.
• 5:08:42
  She never could accept him, and It was not only that her feelings
• 5:08:47
  were still adverse to any man save one. Her judgment, on a serious
• 5:08:52
  consideration of the possibilities of such a case was against mister Eliot. Though they
• 5:08:57
  had now been acquainted a month, she could not be satisfied that she really
• 5:09:02
  knew his character, That he was a sensible man, an agreeable man,
• 5:09:07
  that he talked well, professed good opinions, seemed to judge properly, and
• 5:09:11
  as a man of principle, this was all clear enough. He certainly knew
• 5:09:17
  what was right. Nor could she fix on any one article of moral duty
• 5:09:21
  evidently transgressed. But yet she would have been afraid to answer for his conduct.
• 5:09:27
  She distrusted the past, if not the present. The names which occasionally
• 5:09:33
  dropped of former associates, the allusions to former practices and pursuits, suggested suspicions
• 5:09:40
  not favorable of what he had been. She saw that there had been bad
• 5:09:44
  habits, that Sunday traveling had been a common thing, that there had been
• 5:09:48
  a period of his life, and probably not a short one, when he
• 5:09:52
  had been at least careless in all serious matters. And though he might now
• 5:09:57
  think very differently, who could answer for the true sentiments of a clever,
• 5:10:02
  cautious man, grown old enough to appreciate a fair character. How could it
• 5:10:07
  ever be ascertained that his mind was truly cleansed. Mister Elliot was rational,
• 5:10:14
  discreets polished, but he was not open. There was never any burst of
• 5:10:19
  feeling, any warmth of indignation or delight at the evil or good of others.
• 5:10:26
  This, to Anne was a decided imperfection. Her early impressions were incurable.
• 5:10:32
  She prized the frank, the open hearted, the eager character beyond all
• 5:10:36
  others. Warmth and enthusiasm did captivate her. Still, she felt that she
• 5:10:41
  could so much more depend upon the sincerity of those who sometimes looked or said
• 5:10:47
  a careless or hasty thing, than those whose presence of mind never varied,
• 5:10:52
  whose tongue never slipped. Mister Elliot was too generally agreeable, various, as
• 5:11:00
  were the tempers in her father's house. He pleased them all. He endured
• 5:11:03
  too well, stood too well with everybody. He had spoken to her with
• 5:11:08
  some degree of openness of missus Clay, and appeared completely to see what missus
• 5:11:12
  Clay was about, and to hold her in contempt. And yet missus Clay
• 5:11:18
  found him as agreeable as anybody. Lady Russell saw either less or more than
• 5:11:23
  her young friend, for she saw nothing to excite distrust. She could not
• 5:11:29
  imagine a man more exactly what he ought to be than mister Elliot, nor
• 5:11:33
  did she ever enjoy a sweeter feeling than the hope of seeing him received the
• 5:11:37
  hand of her beloved Anne in kellynch Church in the course of the following autumn
• 5:11:45
  end of Chapter seventeen of Persuasion. Chapter eighteen of Persuasion. It was the
• 5:11:52
  beginning of February, and Anne, having been a month in Bath, was
• 5:11:57
  growing very eager for news for Uppercross and Lyme. She wanted to hear much
• 5:12:03
  more than Mary had communicated. It was three weeks since she had heard at
• 5:12:07
  all. She only knew that Henrietta was at home again and that Louisa,
• 5:12:11
  though considered to be recovering fast, was still in Lime. And she was
• 5:12:15
  thinking of them all very intently. One evening when a thicker letter than usual
• 5:12:21
  from Mary was delivered to her, and to quicken the pleasure and surprise,
• 5:12:26
  with Admiral and Missus Croft's compliments, the Crofts must be in Bath, a
• 5:12:33
  circumstance to interest her. They were people whom her heart turned to very naturally.
• 5:12:38
  What is this, cried Sir Walter. The Crofts have arrived in Bath
• 5:12:44
  the croft, she read, killnch. What have they brought you? A
• 5:12:48
  letter from Uppercross Cottage? Sir oh, those letters are convenient passports. They
• 5:12:52
  secure an introduction. I should have visited Admiral Croft. However, at any
• 5:12:57
  rate I know what is due to my tenant. Anne couldn't listen no longer.
• 5:13:03
  She could not even have told how the poor Admiral's complexion escaped. Her
• 5:13:07
  letter engrossed her. It had been begun several days back February first, My
• 5:13:14
  dear Anne, I make no apology for my silence, because I know how
• 5:13:18
  little people think of letters in such a place as Bath. You must be
• 5:13:21
  a great deal too happy to care for Uppercross, which, as you well
• 5:13:25
  know, affords little to write about. We have had a very dull Christmas.
• 5:13:29
  Mister and missus Musgrove have not had one dinner party or the holidays.
• 5:13:33
  I do not reckon the haters as anybody. The holidays, however, are
• 5:13:37
  over at last. I believe no children ever had such long ones. I
• 5:13:41
  am sure I had not. The house was clear yesterday, except of the
• 5:13:45
  little Harvilles, but you will be surprised to hear they have never gone home.
• 5:13:48
  Missus Harville must be an odd mother to part with them so long.
• 5:13:52
  I do not understand it. They are not at all nice children, in
• 5:13:56
  my opinion, but Missus Musgrove seems to like them quite as well, if
• 5:14:00
  not better than her grandchildren. What dreadful weather we have had. It may
• 5:14:04
  not be felt in Bath with your nice pavements, but in the country it
• 5:14:08
  is of some consequence. I have not had a creature call on me since
• 5:14:12
  the second week in January, except Charles Hater, who had been calling much
• 5:14:17
  oftener than was welcome between ourselves. I think it a great pity Henrietta did
• 5:14:22
  not remain at Lime as long as Louisa. It would have kept her a
• 5:14:25
  little out of his way. The carriage is gone to day to bring Louisa
• 5:14:29
  and the Harvilles to morrow. We are not asked to dine with them,
• 5:14:32
  however, till the day after. Missus Vusgrove is so afraid of her being
• 5:14:34
  fatigued by the journey, which is not very unlikely considering the care that would
• 5:14:40
  be taken of her, and it would be much more convenient to me to
• 5:14:42
  dine there to morrow. I am glad you find mister Elliot so agreeable,
• 5:14:45
  and wish I could be acquainted with him too. But I have my usual
• 5:14:49
  luck. I am always out to the way when anything desirable is going on,
• 5:14:53
  always the last of my family to be noticed. What an immense time
• 5:14:57
  missus Clay has been staying with Elizabeth. Does she never mean to go away?
• 5:15:02
  But perhaps if she were to leave the room vacant, we might not
• 5:15:04
  be invited. Let me know what you think of this. I do not
• 5:15:08
  expect my children to be asked. You know. I can leave them at
• 5:15:11
  the Great House very well for a month or six weeks. I have this
• 5:15:15
  moment heard that the Crofts are going to bath almost immediately, they think the
• 5:15:19
  Admiral gouty Charles heard it quite by chance. They have not had the civility
• 5:15:23
  to give me any notice or of offering to take anything. I do not
• 5:15:27
  think they improve at all as neighbors. We see nothing of them, and
• 5:15:30
  this is really an instance of gross inattention. Charles joins me in love and
• 5:15:36
  everything proper yours affectionately, Mary M. I am sorry to say that I
• 5:15:41
  am very far from well, and Jemima has just told me that the butcher
• 5:15:45
  says there is a bad sore throat very much about I dare say I shall
• 5:15:48
  catch it in my sore throats, you know, are always worse than anybody's.
• 5:15:52
  So ended the first part, which had been afterwards put into an envelope
• 5:15:56
  containing nearly as much more. I kept my life her open that I might
• 5:16:00
  send you word how Louisa bore her journey. And now I am extremely glad
• 5:16:03
  I did, having a great deal to add. In the first place,
• 5:16:07
  I had a note from missus Croft yesterday offering to convey anything to you,
• 5:16:11
  a very kind, friendly note indeed addressed to me just as it ought.
• 5:16:15
  I shall therefore be able to make my letter as long as I like.
• 5:16:18
  The Admiral does not seem very ill, and I sincerely hope Barth will do
• 5:16:22
  him all the good he wants. I shall be truly glad to have them
• 5:16:26
  back again. Our neighborhood cannot spare such a pleasant family. But now for
• 5:16:30
  Louisa, I have something to communicate that will astonish you. Not on little
• 5:16:34
  She and the Harvilles came on Tuesday very safely, and in the evening we
• 5:16:38
  went to ask her how she did when we were rather surprised not to find
• 5:16:41
  Captain Benwick of the party, for he had been invited as well as the
• 5:16:45
  Harvilles. And what do you think was the reason, neither more nor less
• 5:16:49
  than his being in love with Louisa and not choosing to venture to Uppercross till
• 5:16:53
  he had an answer from mister Musgrove, for it was all settled between him
• 5:16:57
  and her before she came away, and he had written to her father by
• 5:17:00
  Captain Harville. True, upon my honor, are not to you astonished?
• 5:17:06
  I shall be surprised at least if you ever received a hint of it,
• 5:17:08
  for I never did. Missus Musgrove protests solemnly that she knew nothing of the
• 5:17:14
  matter. We are all very well pleased, however, for though it is
• 5:17:17
  not equal to her marrying Captain Wentworth, it is infinitely better than Charles Hatter.
• 5:17:22
  And mister Musgrove has written his consent, and Captain Benwick is expected to
• 5:17:26
  day. Missus Harville says her husband feels a good deal on his poor sister's
• 5:17:30
  account. But however, Louisa is a great favorite with both. Indeed,
• 5:17:34
  Missus Harville and I quite agree that we love her the better for having nursed
• 5:17:37
  her. Charles wonders where Captain Wentworth will say, but if you remember,
• 5:17:42
  I never thought him attached to Louisa. I never could see anything of it.
• 5:17:47
  And this is the end you see of Captain Benwick's being supposed to be
• 5:17:49
  an admirer of yours. How Charles could take such a thing into his head
• 5:17:53
  was always incomprehensible to me. I hope he will be more agreeable now.
• 5:17:59
  Certainly not a great match for Louisa Musgrove, but a million times better than
• 5:18:03
  marrying among the haters. Mary need not have feared her sister's being in any
• 5:18:07
  degree prepared for the news. She had never in her life been more astonished
• 5:18:14
  Captain Benwick and Louisa Musgrove. It was almost too wonderful for belief. And
• 5:18:21
  it was with the greatest effort that she could remain in the room, preserve
• 5:18:25
  an air of calmness, and answer the common questions of the moment. Happily
• 5:18:30
  for her, they were not many. Sir Walter wanted to know whether the
• 5:18:34
  Crofts traveled with four horses, and whether they were likely to be situated in
• 5:18:40
  such a part of Bath as might shoot Miss Elliott and himself to visit in,
• 5:18:44
  but had little curiosity beyond how is Mary? Said Elizabeth, and without
• 5:18:48
  waiting for an answer, and pray what brings the Crofts to Ba? They
• 5:18:52
  come on the Admiral's account. He's thought to be gouty, gout and decrepitude,
• 5:18:59
  said sir. Poor gentlemen, have they any acquaintance here? Asked Elizabeth.
• 5:19:04
  I do not know, but I can hardly suppose that at Admiral Croft's
• 5:19:08
  time of life and in his profession, he should not have many acquaintances in
• 5:19:12
  such a place as this. I suspect, said Sir Walter coolly, that
• 5:19:18
  Admiral Croft will be vistion known in Bath as the renter of Kellynch Hall.
• 5:19:22
  Elizabeth may be venture to present here and his wife in Laura place. Oh
• 5:19:26
  no, I think not. Situated as we are with Lady Dalyrymple cousins,
• 5:19:32
  we ought to be very careful not to embarrass her with acquaintance. She might
• 5:19:34
  not approve. If we were not related, it would not signify, but
• 5:19:38
  as cousins she would feel scrupulous as to any proposal of ours. We had
• 5:19:42
  better leave the Croft to find their own level. There are several odd looking
• 5:19:47
  men walking about here? Who I am told our sailors the craft will associate
• 5:19:52
  with them. This was Sir Walter and Elizabeth's share of interest in the letter.
• 5:19:56
  When Missus Clay had paid her tribute of more more decent attention in an
• 5:20:00
  enquiry after Missus Charles Musgrove and her fine little boys, Anne was at liberty
• 5:20:08
  in her own room. She tried to comprehend it. Well, my Charles,
• 5:20:14
  wonder how Captain Wentworth would feel. Perhaps he had quitted the field,
• 5:20:18
  had given Louisa up, had ceased to love, had found he did not
• 5:20:22
  love her. She could not endure the idea of treachery, or levity,
• 5:20:27
  or anything akin to ill usage between him and his friend. She could not
• 5:20:32
  endure that such a friendship as their should be severed unfairly. Captain Benwick and
• 5:20:37
  Louisa Musgrove, the high spirited, joyous talking Louisa Musgrove, and the dejected,
• 5:20:45
  thinking, feeling reading Captain Benwick seemed each of them everything that would not
• 5:20:51
  suit the other, their minds most dissimilar. Where could have been the attraction?
• 5:20:56
  The answer soon presented itself. It had been in situation they had been
• 5:21:03
  thrown together several weeks. They had been living in the same small family party
• 5:21:07
  since Henriette his coming away. They must have been depending almost entirely on each
• 5:21:12
  other, and Louisa, just recovering from illness, had been in an interesting
• 5:21:18
  state. Captain Benwick was not inconsolable. That was a point which Anne had
• 5:21:23
  not been able to avoid suspecting before, and instead of drawing the same conclusion
• 5:21:27
  as Mary from the present course of events, they served only to confirm the
• 5:21:33
  idea of his having felt some dawning of tenderness toward herself. She did not
• 5:21:37
  mean, however, to derive much more from it to gratify her vanity than
• 5:21:42
  Mary might have allowed. She was persuaded that any tolerably pleasing young woman who
• 5:21:48
  had listened and seemed to feel for him would have received the same compliments.
• 5:21:55
  He had an affectionate heart. He must love somebody. She saw no reason
• 5:22:02
  against their being happy. Louisa had fine navel fervor to begin with, and
• 5:22:07
  they would soon grow more alike. He would gain cheerfulness, and she would
• 5:22:11
  learn to be an enthusiast for Scott and Lord Byron Nay, that was probably
• 5:22:17
  learnt already. Of course, they had fallen in love over poetry. The
• 5:22:22
  idea of Louisa Musgrove turned into a person of literary taste and sentimental reflection was
• 5:22:29
  amusing, but she had no doubt of its being so. The day at
• 5:22:34
  lyme the fall from the cob might influence her health, her nerves, her
• 5:22:40
  courage, her character to the end of her life as thoroughly as it appeared
• 5:22:45
  to have influenced her fate. The conclusion of the whole was that if the
• 5:22:49
  woman who had been sensible of Captain Wentworth's merits could be allowed to prefer another
• 5:22:56
  man. There was nothing in the engagement to excite lasting one, and if
• 5:23:00
  Captain Wentworth lost no friend by it, certainly nothing to be regretted. No,
• 5:23:07
  it was not regret which made Anne's heart beat in spite of herself,
• 5:23:11
  and brought the color into her cheeks. When she thought of Captain Wentworth,
• 5:23:14
  unshackled and free. She had some feelings which she was ashamed to investigate.
• 5:23:21
  They were too much like joy, senseless joy. She longed to see the
• 5:23:30
  Crofts, but when the meeting took place, there was evident that no rumor
• 5:23:34
  of the news had yet reached them. The visit of ceremony was paid and
• 5:23:38
  returned, and Louisa Musgrove was mentioned, and Captain Benwick too, without even
• 5:23:45
  half a smile. The Crofts had placed themselves in lodgings in Gay Street,
• 5:23:49
  perfectly to Sir Walter's satisfaction. He was not at all ashamed of the acquaintance,
• 5:23:55
  and did, in fact think and talk a great deal more about the
• 5:23:59
  Admiral than the Admiral ever thought or talked about him. The Crofts knew quite
• 5:24:04
  as many people in Bath as they wished for, and considered their intercourse with
• 5:24:08
  the Elliots as a mere matter of form, and not in the least likely
• 5:24:11
  to afford them any pleasure. They brought with them their country habit of being
• 5:24:17
  almost always together. He was ordered to walk to keep off the goat,
• 5:24:22
  and missus Croft seemed to go shares with him in everything, and to walk
• 5:24:26
  for her life to do him good. Anne saw them wherever she went.
• 5:24:30
  Lady Russell took her out in her carriage almost every morning, and she'd never
• 5:24:36
  failed to think of them, and never failed to see them, Knowing their
• 5:24:40
  feelings as she did. It was a most attractive picture of happiness to her.
• 5:24:45
  She always watched them as long as she could delighted to fancy she understood
• 5:24:49
  what they might be talking of as they walked along in happy independence, or
• 5:24:55
  equally delighted to see the Admiral's hearty shake of the hand when he encountered an
• 5:24:59
  old friend, and observed their eagerness of conversation when occasionally forming into a little
• 5:25:04
  knot of the navy. Missus Croft looking as intelligent and keen as any of
• 5:25:08
  the officers around her. Anne was too much engaged with Lady Russell to be
• 5:25:15
  often walking herself, But it so happened that one morning, about a week
• 5:25:21
  or ten days after the Croft's arrival, it suited her best to leave her
• 5:25:25
  friend or her friend's carriage in the lower part of the town and return alone
• 5:25:30
  to Camden Place, And in walking up Milsom Street, she had the good
• 5:25:33
  fortune to meet with the Admiral. He was standing by himself at a print
• 5:25:37
  shop window, with his hands behind him, in earnest contemplation of some print,
• 5:25:42
  and she not only might have passed him unseen, but was obliged to
• 5:25:47
  touch as well as address him, before she could catch his notice. When
• 5:25:51
  he did perceive and acknowledge her, however, it was done with all the
• 5:25:55
  usual frankness and good humor. Ah is it you? Oh? Thank you,
• 5:26:00
  thank you. This is treating me like a friend. Here I am,
• 5:26:06
  you see, staring at a picture. I can never get by the
• 5:26:10
  shop without stopping. But what a thing is here? By way of a
• 5:26:14
  boat? Do look at it? Did you ever see the like? What
• 5:26:18
  queer fellows your fine painters must be to think that anybody would venture their lives
• 5:26:23
  in such a shapeless old cockleshell as that. And here are two gentlemen stuck
• 5:26:30
  up in it, mightily at their ease, and looking about them at the
• 5:26:34
  rocks and mountains, as if they were not to be upset the next moment,
• 5:26:38
  which they certainly must be. I wonder where the boat was built.
• 5:26:45
  I would not venture over a horsepond in it. Well, turning away,
• 5:26:52
  now where are you bound? Can I go anywhere for you? Or with
• 5:26:56
  you? Can I be of any use? No, thank you, unless
• 5:27:00
  you will give me the pleasure of your company. The little way our road
• 5:27:03
  lies together. I'm going home that I will with all my heart, and
• 5:27:07
  farther too. Yes, yes, we will have a snug walk together.
• 5:27:12
  And I have something to tell you as we go along. There. Take
• 5:27:18
  my arm, that's right. I do not feel comfortable if I have not
• 5:27:22
  a woman there. Oh Lord, what a boat it is. Taking a
• 5:27:27
  last look at the picture as they began to be in motion, did you
• 5:27:32
  say that you had something to tell me? Sir, yes, I have
• 5:27:34
  presently. But here comes a friend, Captain Brigden. I shall only say
• 5:27:40
  how do you do? As we pass? However, I shall not stop.
• 5:27:45
  How do you do? Brigden stares to see anybody with me, but
• 5:27:49
  my wife, She poor soul, is tied by the leg. She has
• 5:27:56
  a blister on one of her heels, as large as a three shilling piece.
• 5:28:00
  If you look across the street, you will see Admiral brand coming down,
• 5:28:03
  and his brother Shabby Fellows, both of them. I am glad they
• 5:28:08
  are not on this side of the way. Sophie cannot bear them. They
• 5:28:15
  played me a pitiful trick. Once got away with some of my best men.
• 5:28:19
  I will tell you the whole story another time. Ah. There comes
• 5:28:25
  old Sir Archibald Drew and his grandson. Look, he sees us. He
• 5:28:32
  kisses his hand to you. He takes you for my wife. Ah,
• 5:28:37
  the piece has come too soon for that, yonker, Poor old Sir Archibald,
• 5:28:45
  How do you like bath, miss Eliot, it suits us very well.
• 5:28:51
  We are always meeting with some old friend or other. The streets are
• 5:28:55
  full of them every morning, sure to have plenty of chat. And then
• 5:28:59
  we get away from them all and shut ourselves in our lodgings, and draw
• 5:29:03
  in our chairs and our snug as if we were at Killynch, or as
• 5:29:07
  we used to be, even at north Yarmouth, and deal we do not
• 5:29:12
  like our lodgings here the worse I can tell you for putting us in mind
• 5:29:17
  of those we first had at north Yarmouth. The wind blows through one of
• 5:29:21
  the cupboards just the same way. When they had got a little farther,
• 5:29:26
  Anne ventured to press again for what he had to communicate. She hoped,
• 5:29:30
  when clear of Milsom Street, to have her curiosity gratified, but she was
• 5:29:34
  still obliged to wait for The Admiral had made up his mind not to begin
• 5:29:38
  till they had gained the greater space and quiet of Belmont, and as she
• 5:29:42
  was not really missus Croft, she must let him have his own way.
• 5:29:48
  As soon as they were fairly ascending Belmont, he began, well, now
• 5:29:52
  you shall hear something that will surprise you But first of all, you must
• 5:29:56
  tell me the name of the young lady. I'm going to talk about that
• 5:30:00
  young lady. You know that we have all been so concerned for the Miss
• 5:30:04
  Musgrove that all this has been happening to her Christian name. I always forget
• 5:30:11
  her Christian name. Anne had been ashamed to appear to comprehend so soon as
• 5:30:17
  she really did. But now she could safely suggest the name of Louisa.
• 5:30:22
  Ay Ay, Miss Louisa Musgrove. That is the name. I wish young
• 5:30:29
  ladies had not such a number of fine Christian names. I should never be
• 5:30:33
  out if they were all Sophie's or something of that sort. Oh well,
• 5:30:38
  this miss Louisa, we all thought, you know, was to marry Frederick.
• 5:30:45
  He was courting her week after week. The only wonder was what they
• 5:30:48
  could be waiting for till the business at Lyme came then. Indeed, it
• 5:30:55
  was clear enough that they must wait till her brain was set to right.
• 5:31:00
  But even then there was something odd in their way of going on. Instead
• 5:31:03
  of staying at Lyme, he went off to Plymouth, and then he went
• 5:31:07
  off to see Edward. When we came back from Minehead, he was gone
• 5:31:12
  down to Edwards, and there he has been ever since. We have seen
• 5:31:18
  nothing of him since November. Even Sophie could not understand it. But now
• 5:31:22
  the matter has taken the strangest turn of all for this young lady, the
• 5:31:26
  same Miss Musgrove, instead of being to marry Frederick, is to marry James
• 5:31:33
  Benwick. You know James Benwick a little. I'm a little acquainted with Captain
• 5:31:40
  Bennick. Well, she is to marry him. Nay, most likely they
• 5:31:44
  are married already, for I do not know what they should wait for.
• 5:31:48
  I thought Captain Bennick a very pleasing young man, said Dan, And I
• 5:31:52
  understand that he bears an excellent character. Oh yes, yes, there is
• 5:31:56
  not a word to be said against James Benwick. He is only a commander,
• 5:32:00
  it is true, made last summer, and these are bad times for
• 5:32:04
  getting on. But he has not another fault that I know of. An
• 5:32:08
  excellent, good hearted fellow. I assure you a very active, zealous officer
• 5:32:14
  too, which is more than you would think, for perhaps, for that
• 5:32:17
  soft sort of manner does not do him justice. Indeed you are mistaken there,
• 5:32:22
  sir. I should never all go want of spirit from Captain Bennock's manners.
• 5:32:26
  I thought them particularly pleasing, and I will answer for it. They
• 5:32:30
  would generally please. Well, well, ladies are the best judges, but
• 5:32:36
  James Benwick is rather too piano for me. And though very likely it is
• 5:32:41
  all our partiality, Sophie and I cannot help thinking Frederick's manners better than his,
• 5:32:48
  there is something about Frederick more to our taste. Anne was caught.
• 5:32:53
  She had only meant to oppose the too common idea of spirit and gentleness being
• 5:32:59
  incompatible with each other, not at all to represent Captain Benwick's banners as the
• 5:33:03
  very best that could possibly be. And after a little hesitation, she was
• 5:33:07
  beginning to say I was not entering into any comparison of the two friends.
• 5:33:12
  But the Admiral interrupted there with. And the thing is certainly true. It
• 5:33:18
  is not a mere bit of gossip. We have it from Frederick himself.
• 5:33:22
  His sister had a letter from him yesterday in which he tells us of it,
• 5:33:27
  and he had just had it in a letter from Harville, written on
• 5:33:30
  the spot from Uppercross. I fancy they are all at Uppercross. This was
• 5:33:37
  an opportunity which Anne could not resist. She said, therefore, I hope,
• 5:33:42
  Admiral I hope there is nothing in the style of Captain Wentworth's letter to
• 5:33:48
  make you and missus Croft particularly uneasy. It did seem last autumn as if
• 5:33:52
  there were an attachment between him and Louise Musgrove. But I hope it may
• 5:33:57
  be understood to have worn out on each side equally and without violence. I
• 5:34:03
  hope his letter does not breathe the spirit of an ill used man. Not
• 5:34:07
  at all, Not at all. There is not an oath or murmur from
• 5:34:11
  beginning to end, and looked down to hide her smile. No, No,
• 5:34:17
  Frederick is not the man to whine and complain. He has too much
• 5:34:21
  spirit for that. If the girl likes another man, it is very fit
• 5:34:26
  she should have him, certainly. But what I mean is that I hope
• 5:34:30
  there is nothing in Captain Wentworth's manner of writing to make you suppose he thinks
• 5:34:34
  himself ill used by his friend, which might appear, you know, without
• 5:34:38
  its being absolutely said. I should be very sorry that such a friendship as
• 5:34:44
  has subsisted between him and Captain Bennick should be destroyed or even wounded by a
• 5:34:48
  circumstance of this sort. Yes, yes, sir, I understand you,
• 5:34:53
  But there is nothing at all of that nature in the letter he does not
• 5:34:57
  give the least fleeing at He does not so much as say I wonder at
• 5:35:03
  it. I have a reason of my own for wondering at it. No,
• 5:35:07
  you would not guess from his way of writing that he had ever thought
• 5:35:11
  of this miss uh what's her name for himself. He very handsomely hopes they
• 5:35:18
  will be happy together, And there's nothing very unforgiving in that, I think.
• 5:35:23
  And did not receive the perfect conviction which the admiral meant to convey,
• 5:35:27
  But it would have been useless to press the inquiry further. She therefore satisfied
• 5:35:33
  herself with commonplace remarks or quiet attention, and the Admiral had it all his
• 5:35:38
  own way. Poor Frederick said he at last, now he must begin all
• 5:35:44
  over again with somebody else. I think we must get him to bath.
• 5:35:49
  Sophie must write and beg him to come to bath. Here are pretty girls
• 5:35:55
  enough. I am sure it would be of no use to go to Upper
• 5:35:59
  Cross again for or that other miss Musgrove I find is bespoke by her cousin,
• 5:36:04
  the young parson. Do not you think, miss Elliot, we had
• 5:36:08
  better try to get him to bath? End? Of Chapter eighteen of Persuasion,
• 5:36:18
  Chapter nineteen of Persuasion. While Admiral Croft was taking this walk with and
• 5:36:22
  and expressing his wish of getting Captain Wentworth to bath. Captain Wentworth was already
• 5:36:27
  on his way thither before Missus Croft had ridden. He was arrived, and
• 5:36:33
  the very next time Anne walked out she saw him. Mister Elliot was attending
• 5:36:38
  his two cousins and missus Clay. They were in Milsom Street. It began
• 5:36:44
  to rain, not much, but enough to make shelter desirable for women,
• 5:36:48
  and quite enough to make it very desirable for Miss Elliott to have the advantage
• 5:36:52
  of being conveyed home in Lady Dalrymple's carriage, which was seen waiting at a
• 5:36:56
  little distance. See. Anne and missus Clay therefore turned into mullins. While
• 5:37:03
  mister Elliot stept to Lady Dalrymple to request her assistance, he soon joined them
• 5:37:08
  again successful. Of course, Lady Dalrymple would be most happy to take them
• 5:37:14
  home and would call for them in a few minutes. Her ladyship's carriage was
• 5:37:18
  a barouche and did not hold more than four with any comfort. Miss Carteret
• 5:37:23
  was with her mother Consequently, he was not reasonable to expect accommodation for all
• 5:37:29
  the three Camden Place ladies. There could be no doubt as to miss Elliott,
• 5:37:34
  whoever suffered inconvenience, she must suffer none. But it occupied a little
• 5:37:40
  time to settle the point of civility between the other two. The brain was
• 5:37:45
  a mere trifle, and Anne was most sincere in preferring a walk with mister
• 5:37:48
  Elliot. But the rain was also a mere trifle to missus Clay. She
• 5:37:52
  could hardly allow it even to drop it all. And her boots were so
• 5:37:56
  thick, much thicker than miss Anne, And in short, her civility rendered
• 5:38:03
  her quite as anxious to be left to walk with mister Elliot as Anne could
• 5:38:07
  be. And it was discussed between them with a generosity, so polite and
• 5:38:11
  so determined that the others were obliged to settle it for them, miss Eliot
• 5:38:17
  maintaining that missus Clay had a little cold already, and mister Elliot deciding on
• 5:38:22
  appeal that his cousin Anne's boots were rather the thickest. It was fixed accordingly
• 5:38:27
  that missus Clay should be of the party in the carriage, And they had
• 5:38:32
  just reached this point, when Anne, as she sat near the window,
• 5:38:36
  descried most decidedly and distinctly Captain Wentworth walking down the street. Her start was
• 5:38:42
  perceptible only to herself, but she instantly felt that she was the greatest simpleton
• 5:38:48
  in the world, the most unaccountable and absurd. For a few minutes she
• 5:38:52
  saw nothing before her. It was all confusion. She was lost, and
• 5:38:57
  when she had scolded back her senses, she found the others still waiting for
• 5:39:03
  the carriage, and mister Elliot, always obliging, just setting off Reunion Street
• 5:39:07
  on a commission of missus Clay's. She now felt a great inclination to go
• 5:39:12
  to the outer door. She wanted to see if it rained. Why was
• 5:39:17
  she to suspect herself of another motive? Captain Wentworth must be out of sight.
• 5:39:22
  She left her seat. She would go. One half of her should
• 5:39:26
  not be always so much wiser than the other half, or always suspecting the
• 5:39:30
  other of being worse than it was. She could see if it rained.
• 5:39:36
  She was sent back. However, in a moment, by the entrance of
• 5:39:38
  Captain Wentworth himself among a party of gentlemen and ladies, evidently his acquaintance,
• 5:39:45
  and whom he must have joined a little below Milsom Street. He was more
• 5:39:49
  obviously struck and confused by the sight of her than she had ever observed before.
• 5:39:55
  He looked quite red for the first time since their new acquaintance. She
• 5:40:00
  felt that she was betraying the least sensibility of the two. She had the
• 5:40:06
  advantage of him in the preparation of the last few moments or the overpowering,
• 5:40:11
  blinding, bewildering first effects of surprise were over with her still, however,
• 5:40:17
  she had enough to feel. It was agitation, pain, pleasure, a
• 5:40:22
  something between delight and misery. He spoke to her and then turned away.
• 5:40:30
  The character of his manner was embarrassment. She could not have called it cold,
• 5:40:34
  or friendly, or anything so certainly as embarrassed. After a short interval,
• 5:40:41
  however, he came towards her and spoke again. Mutual inquiries on common
• 5:40:48
  subjects passed. Neither of them probably much the wiser for what they heard,
• 5:40:52
  and Anne continually fully sensible of his being less at ease than formerly. They
• 5:40:57
  had by dint of being so very much together, got to speak to each
• 5:41:03
  other with a considerable portion of apparent indifference and calmness. But he could not
• 5:41:07
  do it now. Time had changed him, or Louisa had changed him.
• 5:41:12
  There was consciousness of some sort or other. He looked very well, not
• 5:41:18
  as if he had been suffering in health or spirits. And he talked of
• 5:41:22
  upper Cross of the musgroves, nay even of Louisa, and had even a
• 5:41:26
  momentary look of his own arch significance as he named her. But yet it
• 5:41:32
  was Captain Wentworth, not comfortable, not easy, not able to feign that
• 5:41:37
  he was. It did not surprise, but it grieved and to observe that
• 5:41:44
  Elizabeth would not know him. She saw that he saw Elizabeth, that Elizabeth
• 5:41:48
  saw him, that there was complete internal recognition on each side. She was
• 5:41:53
  convinced that he was ready to be acknowledged as an acquaintance, expecting it,
• 5:41:57
  and she had the pain of seeing her sister turn away with unalterable coldness.
• 5:42:04
  Lady Dalrymple's carriage, for which Miss Eliot was growing very impatient, now drew
• 5:42:08
  up. The servant came in to announce it. It was beginning to rain
• 5:42:12
  again, And altogether there was a delay and a bustle and a talking which
• 5:42:18
  must make all the little crowd in the shop understand that Lady Dalrymple was calling
• 5:42:22
  to convey miss Elliott. At last, Miss Elliot and her friend unattended but
• 5:42:29
  by the servants, for there was no cousin returned, were walking off,
• 5:42:33
  and Captain Wentworth, watching them, turned again to Anne, and by manner
• 5:42:38
  rather than words, was offering his services to her. I am much obliged
• 5:42:42
  to you, was her answer. But I am not going with them.
• 5:42:48
  The carriage would not accommodate so many I walk. I prefer walking. But
• 5:42:53
  it rains, oh, very little, nothing that I regard. After a
• 5:42:59
  moment pause, he said, though I came only yesterday, I have equiped
• 5:43:03
  myself properly for bath already, you see, pointing to a new umbrella.
• 5:43:07
  I wish you would make use of it if you're determined to walk, though
• 5:43:11
  I think it will be more prudent to let me get you a chair.
• 5:43:14
  She was very much obliged to him, but declined at all, repeating her
• 5:43:18
  conviction that the rain would come to nothing at present, and adding I am
• 5:43:22
  only waiting for mister Elliot. They will be here in a moment. I'm
• 5:43:26
  sure she had hardly spoken the words. When mister Elliot walked in. Captain
• 5:43:32
  Wentworth recollected him perfectly. There was no difference between him and the man who
• 5:43:37
  had stood on the steps at lyme admiring Anne as she passed, except in
• 5:43:41
  the air and look and manner of the privileged relation and friend he came in
• 5:43:45
  with eagerness, appeared to see and think only of her, apologized for his
• 5:43:49
  stay, was grieved to keep her waiting, and anxious to get her away
• 5:43:55
  without further loss of time, and before the rain increased, And in another
• 5:44:00
  the moment they walked off together, her arm under his, a gentle and
• 5:44:03
  embarrassed glance, and a good morning to ye, being all that she had
• 5:44:07
  time for as she passed away. As soon as they were out of sight,
• 5:44:12
  the ladies of Captain Wentworth's party began talking of them. Mister Elliot does
• 5:44:18
  not dislike his cousin I fancy. Oh no, that is clear enough.
• 5:44:22
  One can guess what will happen there. He is always with them half lives
• 5:44:26
  and family. I believe was a very good looking man. Yes, and
• 5:44:30
  miss Atkinson, who dined with him once at a Wallace's, says he is
• 5:44:34
  the most agreeable man she ever was in company with. She's pretty. I
• 5:44:40
  think Anne Elliott very pretty. When one comes to look at her. It
• 5:44:45
  is not the fashion to say so, But I confess I admire her more
• 5:44:48
  than her sister. Oh so do I, and so do I. No
• 5:44:52
  comparison, but the men are all wild after Miss Elliott. Anne is too
• 5:44:59
  delicate for them, and would have been particularly obliged to her cousin if he
• 5:45:03
  would have walked by her side all the way to Camden Place without saying a
• 5:45:07
  word. She had never found it so difficult to listen to him, though
• 5:45:11
  nothing could exceed his solicitude and care, and though his subjects were principally such
• 5:45:17
  as were wont to be always interesting. Praise warm, just and discriminating of
• 5:45:22
  Lady Russell, and insinuations highly rational against Missus Clay. But just now she
• 5:45:27
  could think only of Captain Wentworth. She could not understand his present feelings,
• 5:45:33
  whether he were really suffering much from disappointment or not, And till that point
• 5:45:37
  were settled, she could not be quite herself. She hoped to be wise
• 5:45:42
  and reasonable in time, but alas alas she must confess to herself that she
• 5:45:48
  was not wise. Yet another circumstance, very essential for her to know was
• 5:45:55
  how long he meant to be in bath. He had not mentioned it,
• 5:45:59
  and she could not recollect it. He might be only passing through, but
• 5:46:03
  it was more probable that he should become to stay. In that case,
• 5:46:07
  so liable as everybody was to meet everybody in Bath, Lady Russell would in
• 5:46:12
  all likelihood see him somewhere. Would she recollect him? How could it all
• 5:46:18
  be? She had already been obliged to tell Lady Russell that Louisa Musgrove was
• 5:46:25
  to marry Captain Benwick. It had cost her something to encounter Lady Russell's surprise,
• 5:46:30
  and now if she were by any chance to be thrown into company with
• 5:46:33
  Captain Wentworth, her imperfect knowledge of the matter might add another shade of prejudice
• 5:46:38
  against him. The following morning, Anne was out with her friend and for
• 5:46:44
  the first hour in an incessant and fearful sort of watch for him in vain.
• 5:46:48
  But at last, in returning down to Pulteney Street, she distinguished him
• 5:46:53
  on the right hand pavement, at such a distance as to have him in
• 5:46:56
  view the greater part of the street. Many other men about him, many
• 5:47:02
  groups walking the same way, but there was no mistaking him. She looked
• 5:47:07
  instinctively at Lady Russell, but not from any mad idea of her recognizing him
• 5:47:11
  so soon as she did herself. No, it was not to be supposed
• 5:47:17
  that Lady Russell would perceive him till they were nearly opposite. She looked at
• 5:47:21
  her, however, from time to time anxiously, and when the moment approached
• 5:47:26
  which must point him out, though not daring to look again for her own
• 5:47:30
  countenance, she knew was unfit to be seen. She was yet perfectly conscious
• 5:47:33
  of Lady Russell's eyes being turned exactly in the direction for him, of her
• 5:47:38
  being in short intently observing him. She could thoroughly comprehend the sort of fascination
• 5:47:45
  he must possess over Lady Russell's mind, the difficulty it must be for her
• 5:47:49
  to withdraw her eyes, the astonishment she must be feeling that eight or nine
• 5:47:55
  years should have passed over him, and in foreign climes, and inactive service
• 5:47:59
  too, without robbing him of one personal grace. At last, Lady Russell
• 5:48:04
  drew back her head. Now how would she speak of him? You will
• 5:48:08
  wonder, said she, what has been fixing my eye so long? But
• 5:48:14
  I was looking after some window curtains which Lady Alyssa and Missus Frankland were telling
• 5:48:18
  me of last night. They described the drawing room window curtains of one of
• 5:48:22
  these houses on this side of the way and in this part of the street,
• 5:48:26
  as being the handsomest and best hung of any in bath, but could
• 5:48:30
  not recollect the exact number. I have been trying to find out which she
• 5:48:33
  could be, but I confess I can see no curtains hereabout that answered their
• 5:48:37
  description. Anne sighed and blushed and smiled in pity and disdain, either at
• 5:48:45
  her friend or herself. The part which provoked her most was that in all
• 5:48:49
  this waste of foresight and caution, she could have lost the right moment for
• 5:48:53
  seeing whether he saw them. A day or two passed without producing anything.
• 5:49:00
  The theater or the rooms where he was most likely to be were not fashionable
• 5:49:03
  enough for the eliots, whose evening amusements were solely in the elegant stupidity of
• 5:49:08
  private parties in which they were getting more and more engaged. And Anne,
• 5:49:14
  wearied of such a state of stagnation, sick of knowing nothing, and fancying
• 5:49:18
  herself stronger because her strength was not tried, was quite impatient for a concert
• 5:49:23
  evening. It was a concert for the benefit of a person patronized by Lady
• 5:49:29
  Dalrymple. Of course they must attend. It was really expected to be a
• 5:49:33
  good one, and Captain Wentworth was very fond of music. If she could
• 5:49:38
  only have a few minutes conversation with him again, she fancied she should be
• 5:49:42
  satisfied. And as to the power of addressing him, she felt all over
• 5:49:48
  courage. If the opportunity occurred, Elizabeth had turned from him, Lady Russell
• 5:49:53
  overlooked him. Her nerves were strengthened by these circumstances. She felt that she
• 5:49:59
  owed him attention. She had once partly promised Missus Smith to spend the evening
• 5:50:04
  with her, but in a short, hurried call she excused herself and put
• 5:50:08
  it off with a more decided promise of a longer visit on the morrow.
• 5:50:12
  Missus Smith gave a most good humored acquiescence by all means, said she only
• 5:50:18
  tell me all about it when you do come. Who is your party?
• 5:50:22
  Anne named them all. Missus Smith made no reply, but when she was
• 5:50:27
  leaving her said, and with an expression half serious, half arch, well,
• 5:50:33
  I heartily wish your concert may answer, and do not fail me tomorrow
• 5:50:38
  if you can come, for I begin to have a foreboding that I may
• 5:50:42
  not have many more visits from you. Anne was startled and confused, but
• 5:50:48
  after standing in a moment's suspense, was obliged and not sorry to be obliged,
• 5:50:53
  to hurry away. End of Chapter ninety of Persuasion. Chapter twenty of
• 5:51:03
  Persuasion. Sir Walter, his two daughters, and Missus Clay were the earliest
• 5:51:07
  of all their party at the rooms in the evening, and as Lady Dalrymple
• 5:51:11
  must be waited for, they took their station by one of the fires in
• 5:51:15
  the octagon room. But hardly were they so settled when the door opened again
• 5:51:21
  and Captain Wentworth walked in alone. Anne was nearest to him, and making
• 5:51:26
  yet a little advance. She instantly spoke. He was preparing only to bow
• 5:51:30
  and pass on, but her gentle how d'ye do, brought him out of
• 5:51:34
  the straight line to stand near her and make inquiries in return. In spite
• 5:51:40
  of the formidable father and sister in the background. There being in the background
• 5:51:45
  was a support to Anne. She knew nothing of their looks and felt equal
• 5:51:48
  to everything which she believed right to be done. While they were speaking,
• 5:51:53
  a whispering between her father and Elizabeth caught her ear. She could not distinguish,
• 5:51:59
  but she must guess the subject, and on Captain Wentworth's, making a
• 5:52:03
  distant bow. She comprehended that her father had judged so well as to give
• 5:52:07
  him that simple acknowledgment of acquaintance, and she was just in time, by
• 5:52:11
  a side glance to see a slight courtesy from Elizabeth herself. This, though
• 5:52:18
  late and reluctant and ungracious, was yet better than nothing, and her spirits
• 5:52:23
  improved. After talking, however, of the weather and bath and the concert,
• 5:52:30
  their conversation began to flag, and so little was said at last that
• 5:52:34
  she was expecting him to go every moment, but he did not. He
• 5:52:40
  seemed in no hurry to leave her, and presently, with renewed spirit,
• 5:52:44
  with a little smile, a little glow, he said, I have hardly
• 5:52:48
  seen you since. I would say at lyme, I'm afraid you must have
• 5:52:52
  suffered from the shock, and the more from its not overpowering you. At
• 5:52:55
  the time. She assured him that she had not. It was a frightful
• 5:52:59
  hour, said he, a frightful day. Had He passed his hand across
• 5:53:03
  his eyes, as if the remembrance were still too painful, but in the
• 5:53:07
  moment, half smiling again added the day has produced some effects, however,
• 5:53:14
  has had some consequences which must be considered as the very reverse of frightful.
• 5:53:19
  When you had the presence of mind suggest that Benwick would be the properest person
• 5:53:23
  to fetch a surgeon, you could have little idea of his being eventually one
• 5:53:27
  of those most concerned in her recovery. Certainly I could have none, But
• 5:53:33
  it appears I should hope it would be a very happy match. There are
• 5:53:38
  on both sides good principles and good temper, yes, said he, looking
• 5:53:44
  not exactly forward, But there I think ends the resemblance with all my soul.
• 5:53:49
  I wish them happy and rejoice over every circumstance in favor of it.
• 5:53:53
  They have no difficulties to contend with at home, no opposition, no caprice.
• 5:54:00
  The Muscols are behaving like themselves, most honorably and kindly, only anxious
• 5:54:06
  with true parental hearts to promote their daughter's comfort. All this is much very
• 5:54:11
  much in favor of their happiness. More than perhaps he stopped. A sudden
• 5:54:17
  recollection seemed to occur, and to give him some taste of that emotion.
• 5:54:21
  Which was reddening Anne's cheeks and fixing her eyes on the ground. After clearing
• 5:54:26
  his throat, however, he proceeded thus, I confess that I do think
• 5:54:30
  there is a disparity, too great disparity, and in a point no less
• 5:54:36
  essential than mind. I regard Louisa Muscow as a very amiable, sweet tempered
• 5:54:41
  girl, and not deficient in understanding. But Benwick is something more. He
• 5:54:47
  is a clever man, a reading man. And I confess that I do
• 5:54:52
  consider his attaching himself to her with some surprise. Had it been the effect
• 5:54:56
  of gratitude, had he learned to love her, because as he believed her
• 5:55:00
  to be preferring him, it would have been another thing. But I've no
• 5:55:03
  reason to suppose it. So it seems, on the contrary, to have
• 5:55:07
  been a perfectly spontaneous, untaught feeling on his side, And this surprises me.
• 5:55:14
  A man like him, in his situation, with a heart pierced,
• 5:55:18
  wounded, almost broken, Fanny Harvey was a very superior creature, and his
• 5:55:23
  attachment to her was indeed attachment. A man does not recover from such a
• 5:55:29
  devotion of the heart to such a woman. He ought not. He does
• 5:55:33
  not either from the consciousness, however, that his friend had recovered or from
• 5:55:37
  other consciousness. He went no farther, and Anne, who, in spite
• 5:55:42
  of the agitated voice in which the latter part had been uttered, and in
• 5:55:45
  spite of all the various noises of the room, the almost ceaseless slam of
• 5:55:49
  the door and ceaseless buzz of persons walking through, had distinguished every word,
• 5:55:56
  and was struck, gratified, confused, and beginning to breathe very quick and
• 5:56:00
  feel an hundred things in a moment. It was impossible for her to enter
• 5:56:06
  on such a subject, And yet after a pause, feeling the necessity of
• 5:56:11
  speaking, and having not the smallest wish for a total change, she only
• 5:56:15
  deviated so far as to say you were a good while at Lime, I
• 5:56:18
  think about a fortnight. I could not leave it till Louisa's doing well was
• 5:56:23
  quite ascertained. I had been too deeply concerned and mischief to be soon at
• 5:56:29
  peace. It had been my doing, solely mine. She would not have
• 5:56:33
  been obstinate if I had not been weak. The country round Lime is very
• 5:56:37
  fine. I walked and rode a great deal, and the more I saw,
• 5:56:42
  the more I found to admire. I should very much like to see
• 5:56:45
  Lime again, said Anne. Indeed, I should not have supposed that you
• 5:56:51
  could have found anything in Lime to inspire such a feeling. The horror and
• 5:56:56
  distress you involved in the stretch of mine, the wear of spirit, wit,
• 5:57:00
  I should have thought your last impressions of Lime must have been strong discussed.
• 5:57:04
  The last hours were certainly very painful, replied Anne. But when pain
• 5:57:08
  is over, the remembrance of it often becomes a pleasure. One does not
• 5:57:14
  love a place the less for having suffered in it, unless it has been
• 5:57:18
  all suffering, nothing but suffering, which was by no means the case at
• 5:57:22
  Lime. We were only in anxiety and distress during the last two hours,
• 5:57:26
  and previously there had been a great deal of enjoyment, so much novelty and
• 5:57:30
  beauty. I have traveled so little that every fresh place would be interesting to
• 5:57:37
  me. But there is real beauty at Lime, and in short, with
• 5:57:41
  a faint blush, had some recollections. Altogether, my impressions of the place
• 5:57:45
  are very agreeable. As she ceased, the entrance door opened again, and
• 5:57:49
  the very party appeared for whom they were waiting, Lady Dalrymple. Lady Dalrymple
• 5:57:56
  was the rejoicing sound, and with all the eagerness impatible with anxious elegance.
• 5:58:02
  Sir Walter and his two ladies stepped forward to meet her. Lady Dalrymple and
• 5:58:06
  Miss Carteret, escorted by mister Elliot and Colonel Wallace, who had happened to
• 5:58:11
  arrive nearly at the same instant, advanced into the room. The others joined
• 5:58:15
  them, and it was a group in which Anne found herself also necessarily included.
• 5:58:21
  She was divided from Captain Wentworth. Their interesting, almost too interesting,
• 5:58:26
  conversation must be broken up for a time. But slight was the penance compared
• 5:58:30
  with the happiness which brought it on. She had learnt in the last ten
• 5:58:36
  minutes more of his feelings towards Louisa, more of all his feelings than she
• 5:58:41
  dared to think of, and she gave herself up to the demands of the
• 5:58:45
  party, to the needful civilities of the moment, with exquisite, though agitated
• 5:58:49
  sensations. She was in good humor with all she had received, ideas which
• 5:58:55
  disposed her to be courteous and kind to all, and to pity every one
• 5:59:00
  as being less happy than herself. The delightful emotions were a little subdued.
• 5:59:04
  When, on stepping back from the group to be joined again by Captain Wentworth,
• 5:59:10
  she saw that he was gone. She was just in time to see
• 5:59:12
  him turn into the concert room. He was gone, he had disappeared.
• 5:59:18
  She felt a moment's regret. But they should meet again. He would look
• 5:59:22
  for her, he would find her out before the evening were over, And
• 5:59:26
  at present perhaps it was as well to be asunder she was in need of
• 5:59:32
  a little interval for recollection. Upon Lady Russell's appearance soon afterwards, the whole
• 5:59:38
  party was collected, and all that remained was to marshal themselves and proceed into
• 5:59:44
  the concert room, and be of all the consequence in their power draw as
• 5:59:48
  many eyes, excite as many whispers, and disturb as many people as they
• 5:59:52
  could. Very very happy were both Elizabeth and Anne Elliott as they walked in.
• 5:59:59
  Elizabeth, arm in arm with Miss Carteret and looking on the broad back
• 6:00:03
  of the dowager Viscountess Dalrymple before her, had nothing to wish for which did
• 6:00:07
  not seem within her reach. And Anne. But it would be an insult
• 6:00:11
  to the nature of Anne's felicity to draw any comparison between it, and her
• 6:00:17
  sisters, the origin of one, all selfish, vanity, of the other,
• 6:00:21
  all generous attachment. Anne saw nothing, thought nothing of the brilliancy of
• 6:00:26
  the room. Her happiness was from within. Her eyes were bright and her
• 6:00:32
  cheeks glowed, but she knew nothing about it. She was thinking only of
• 6:00:36
  the last half hour, and as they passed to their seats, her mind
• 6:00:40
  took a hasty range over it. His choice of subjects, his expressions,
• 6:00:45
  and still more his manner and look had been such as she could see in
• 6:00:49
  only one light, his opinion of Louisa Musgrove's inferiority, an opinion which he
• 6:00:56
  had seemed solicitous to give his wonder at Captain bend his feelings as to a
• 6:01:00
  first strong attachment. Sentences begun, which he could not finish. His half
• 6:01:07
  averted eyes at more than half expressive glance all all declared that he had a
• 6:01:12
  heart returning to her at least, that anger resentment of a voidance were no
• 6:01:18
  more, and that they were succeeded not merely by friendship and regard, but
• 6:01:23
  by the tenderness of the past. Yes, some share of the tenderness of
• 6:01:29
  the past. She could not contemplate the change as implying less he must love
• 6:01:34
  her. These were thoughts, with their attendant visions, which occupied and flurried
• 6:01:41
  her too much to leave her any power of observation, and she passed along
• 6:01:45
  the room without having a glimpse of him, without even trying to discern him.
• 6:01:51
  When their places were determined on and they were all properly arranged, she
• 6:01:55
  looked round to see if she should happen to be in the same part of
• 6:01:57
  the room, But he was not. Her eye could not reach him,
• 6:02:02
  and the concert being just opening, she must consent for a time to be
• 6:02:07
  happy in a humbler way. The party was divided and disposed of on two
• 6:02:11
  contiguous benches. Anne was among those on the foremost, and mister Elliot had
• 6:02:17
  maneuvered so well with the assistance of his friend Colonel Wallace, as to have
• 6:02:22
  a seat by her. Miss Elliot surrounded by her cousins, and the principal
• 6:02:26
  object of Colonel Wallace's gallantry, was quite contented. Anne's mind was in a
• 6:02:32
  most favorable state for the entertainment of the evening. It was just occupation enough.
• 6:02:37
  She had feelings for the tender spirits, for the gay attention, for
• 6:02:41
  the scientific and patience for the wearisome, and had never liked a concert better,
• 6:02:47
  at least during the first act. Towards the close of it, in
• 6:02:51
  the interval succeeding an Italian song, she explained the words of the song to
• 6:02:55
  mister Elliot. They had a concert bill between them. Yes, said you,
• 6:03:00
  is nearly the sense, or rather the meaning of the words. For
• 6:03:03
  certainly the sense of an Italian love song must not be talked of. But
• 6:03:07
  it is as nearly the meaning as I can give. For I do not
• 6:03:11
  pretend to understand the language. I am a very poor Italian scholar. Yes,
• 6:03:15
  yes, I see you are. I see you know nothing of the
• 6:03:18
  matter. You have only knowledge enough of the language to translate at sight these
• 6:03:22
  inverted, transposed, curtailed Italian lines into clear, comprehensible, elegant English.
• 6:03:30
  You need not say anything more of your ignorance. Here is complete proof.
• 6:03:33
  I will not oppose such politeness. But I shouldn't be sorry to be examined
• 6:03:37
  by a real proficient I have not had the pleasure of visiting in Camden Place
• 6:03:41
  so long, replied he, without knowing something of miss Anne Elliott, and
• 6:03:47
  I do regard her as one who is too modest for the world in general
• 6:03:49
  to be aware of half her accomplishments, and too highly accomplished for modesty to
• 6:03:55
  be natural in any other woman. For shame, for shame, this is
• 6:03:59
  too much for I forget what we are to have next. Turning to the
• 6:04:03
  bill, perhaps, said mister Elliot, speaking low, I have had a
• 6:04:07
  longer acquaintance with your character than you are aware of. Indeed, how so
• 6:04:11
  you can have been acquainted with it only since I came to Bath. Accepting
• 6:04:15
  as you might hear me previously spoken of in my own family, I knew
• 6:04:19
  you by report long before you came to Bath. I had heard you described
• 6:04:23
  by those who knew you intimately. I have been acquainted with you by character
• 6:04:27
  many years. Your person, your disposition, accomplishment's manner, they were all
• 6:04:33
  present to me. Mister Elliot was not disappointed in the interest he hoped to
• 6:04:37
  raise. No one can withstand the charm of such a mystery, to have
• 6:04:41
  been described long ago to a recent acquaintance by nameless people is irresistible. And
• 6:04:48
  Anne was all curiosity. She wondered and questioned him eagerly, but in vain.
• 6:04:53
  He delighted in being asked, but he would not tell No no,
• 6:04:59
  sometime or other, perhaps, but not now. He would mention no names
• 6:05:03
  now, but such he could assure her had been the fact he had many
• 6:05:07
  years ago received such a description of miss Eliot, as had inspired him with
• 6:05:11
  the highest idea of her merit, and excited the warmest curiosity to know her.
• 6:05:17
  Anne can think of no one so likely to have spoken with partiality of
• 6:05:21
  her many years ago, as the mister Wentworth of Munkford, Captain Wentworth's brother,
• 6:05:26
  he might have been in mister Elliot's company, but she had not courage
• 6:05:30
  to ask the question the name of Anne, Elliot said, he has long
• 6:05:33
  had an interesting sound to me, very long has it possessed a charm of
• 6:05:37
  my fancy? And if I did, I would breathe my wishes that the
• 6:05:41
  name might never change. Such she believed were his words. But scarcely had
• 6:05:47
  she received their sound, that her attention was caught by other sounds immediately behind
• 6:05:51
  her, which rendered everything else trivial. Her father and Lady Dalrymple were speaking.
• 6:05:57
  A well looking man, said Sir Walter, A very well looking man,
• 6:06:03
  A very fine young man, indeed, said Lady Dalrymple, more ev
• 6:06:07
  than one often sees in bath irish, I dare say no, I just
• 6:06:11
  knew his name, A bowie acquaintance Wentworth, Captain Wentworth of the Navy,
• 6:06:18
  his sister Mary may tenant in Somerset. Shear the croft he renched kilinch before
• 6:06:23
  Sir Walter had reached to this point. Anne's eyes had caught the right direction
• 6:06:27
  and distinguished Captain Wentworth standing among a cluster of men at a little distance.
• 6:06:33
  As her eyes fell on him, he seemed to be withdrawn from her.
• 6:06:37
  It had that appearance. It seemed as if she had been one moment too
• 6:06:41
  late, and as long as she dared observe, he did not look again.
• 6:06:45
  But the performance was recommencing, and she was forced to seem to restore
• 6:06:49
  her attention to the orchestra and look straight ahead. When she could give another
• 6:06:55
  glance, he had moved away. He could not have come nearer to her
• 6:06:59
  if he she was so surrounded and shut in, but she would rather have
• 6:07:03
  caught his eye. Mister Elliot's speech too distressed her. She had no longer
• 6:07:08
  any inclination to talk to him. She wished him not so near her.
• 6:07:14
  The first act was over. Now she hoped for some beneficial change, and
• 6:07:18
  after a period of nothing saying. Amongst the party, some of them did
• 6:07:22
  decide on going in quest of tea. Anne was one of the few who
• 6:07:26
  did not choose to move. She remained in her seat, and so did
• 6:07:30
  Lady Russell. But she had the pleasure of getting rid of mister Eliot,
• 6:07:34
  and she did not mean, whatever she might feel on Lady Russell's account,
• 6:07:38
  to shrink from conversation from Captain Wentworth if he gave her the opportunity. She
• 6:07:44
  was persuaded by Lady Russell's countenance that she had seen him. He did not
• 6:07:49
  come. However, Anne sometimes fancied she discerned him at a distance, but
• 6:07:55
  he never came. The anxious interval wore away unproductively. The others returned,
• 6:08:00
  the room filled again, Benches were reclaimed and repossessed, and another hour of
• 6:08:07
  pleasure or of penance was to be sat at. Another hour of music was
• 6:08:11
  to give delights or the gapes as real or affected taste. For it prevailed
• 6:08:17
  to Anne it chiefly wore the prospect of an hour of agitation. She could
• 6:08:22
  not quit that room in peace without seeing Captain Wentworth once more, without the
• 6:08:26
  interchange of one friendly look. In resettling themselves, there were now many changes,
• 6:08:33
  the result of which was favorable for her. Colonel Wallace declined sitting down
• 6:08:38
  again, and mister Elliot was invited by Elizabeth and Miss Carteret in a manner
• 6:08:42
  not to be refused, to sit between them. And by some other removals
• 6:08:48
  and a little scheming of her own, Anne was enabled to place herself much
• 6:08:52
  nearer the end of the bench than she had been before, much more within
• 6:08:55
  reach of a passer by. She could not do so without comparing herself to
• 6:09:00
  Miss Lauol, the inimitable Miss the Roll, but still she did it,
• 6:09:04
  and not with much happier effect, though by what seemed prosperity in the shape
• 6:09:10
  of an early abdication in her next neighbors. She found herself at the very
• 6:09:14
  end of the bench before the concert closed. Such was her situation, with
• 6:09:18
  a vacant space at hand. When Captain Wentworth was again in sight, she
• 6:09:23
  saw him not far off. He saw her too, Yet he looked grave
• 6:09:29
  and seemed irresolute, and only by very slow degrees came at last near enough
• 6:09:33
  to speak to her. She felt that something must be the matter. The
• 6:09:37
  change was indubitable, the difference between his present air and what it had been
• 6:09:42
  in the octagon room was strikingly great. Why was it? She thought of
• 6:09:48
  her father, of Lady Russell. Could there have been any unpleasant glances?
• 6:09:53
  He began by speaking of the concert gravely, more like the Captain Wentworth of
• 6:09:57
  Uppercross on himself disappointed, had expected singing, and in short must confess that
• 6:10:03
  he should not be sorry when it was over. Anne replied and spoke in
• 6:10:08
  defense of the performance so well and yet in allowance for his feelings, so
• 6:10:12
  pleasantly that his countenance improved, and he replied again with almost a smile.
• 6:10:19
  They talked for a few minutes more. The improvement held. He even looked
• 6:10:23
  down towards the bench as if he saw a place on it well worth occupying.
• 6:10:29
  When at that moment a touch on her shoulder obliged Anne to turn round.
• 6:10:33
  It came from mister Eliot. He begged her pardon, but she must
• 6:10:38
  be applied to to explain Italian again. Miss Carteret was very anxious to have
• 6:10:44
  a general idea of what was next to be sung. Anne could not refuse,
• 6:10:48
  but never had she sacrificed to politeness with a more suffering spirit. A
• 6:10:55
  few minutes, though as few as possible, were inevitably consumed, and when
• 6:11:00
  her own mistress again, when able to turn and look, as she had
• 6:11:03
  done before, she found herself accosted by Captain Wentworth in a reserved yet hurried
• 6:11:10
  sort of farewell. He must wish her good night. He was going,
• 6:11:15
  he should get home as fast as he could. He is not The song
• 6:11:18
  was stainful, said Dan, suddenly struck by an idea which made her yet
• 6:11:22
  more anxious to be encouraging. No, he replied impressively, there is nothing
• 6:11:26
  worth my stayful, and he was gone directly. Jealousy of mister Eliot.
• 6:11:33
  It was the only intelligible motive Captain Wentworth, jealous of her affection? Could
• 6:11:38
  she have believed it a week ago, three hours ago? For a moment
• 6:11:44
  the gratification was exquisite, But alas there were very different thoughts to succeed.
• 6:11:51
  How was such jealousy to be quieted? How was the truth to reach him?
• 6:11:55
  How in all the peculiar disadvantages of their respective situations would he ever learn
• 6:12:00
  of her real sentiments? It was misery to think of mister Elliott's attentions.
• 6:12:07
  Their evil was incalculable. End of Chapter twenty of Persuasion. Chapter twenty one
• 6:12:15
  of persuasion, and recollected with pleasure the next morning. Her promise of going
• 6:12:21
  to missus Smith, meaning that it should engage her from home at the time
• 6:12:23
  when mister Elliot would be most likely to call for to avoid mister Eliot was
• 6:12:29
  almost a first object. She felt a great deal of good will towards him,
• 6:12:34
  in spite of the mischief of his intentions. She owed him gratitude and
• 6:12:37
  regard, perhaps compassion. She could not help thinking much of the extraordinary circumstances
• 6:12:44
  attending their acquaintance of the right which he seems to have to interest her,
• 6:12:48
  by everything in situation, by his own sentiments, by his early prepossession.
• 6:12:53
  It was altogether very extraordinary, flattering but painful. There was much to regret.
• 6:13:00
  How she might have felt had there been no Captain Wentworth in the case
• 6:13:04
  was not worth inquiry. For there was a Captain Wentworth, and be the
• 6:13:10
  conclusion of the present suspense, good or bad, her affection would be his
• 6:13:14
  forever. Their union, she believed, could not divide her more from other
• 6:13:18
  men than their final separation. Prettier a musings of high wrought love and eternal
• 6:13:25
  constancy, could never have passed along the streets of Bath than Anne was sporting
• 6:13:30
  with from Camden Place to Westgate Buildings. It was almost enough to spread purification
• 6:13:34
  and perfume all the way. She was sure of a pleasant reception, and
• 6:13:40
  her friend seemed this morning particularly obliged to her, for coming seemed hardly to
• 6:13:45
  have expected there, though it had been an appointment. An account of the
• 6:13:48
  concert was immediately claimed, and Anne's recollections of the concert were quite happy enough
• 6:13:53
  to animate her features and make her rejoice to talk of it. All that
• 6:13:57
  she could tell, she told most gladly. But the all was little for
• 6:14:03
  one who had been there, and unsatisfactory for such an inquirer as Missus Smith,
• 6:14:07
  who had already heard through a short cut of a laundress and a waiter,
• 6:14:11
  rather more than the general success and produce of the evening than Anne could
• 6:14:15
  relate, and who now asked in vain for several particulars of the company.
• 6:14:21
  Everybody of any consequence or notoriety in Bath was well known by name to Missus
• 6:14:26
  Smith. The little durants were there, I conclude, said she, with
• 6:14:30
  their mouths open to catch the music, like unfledged sparrows ready to be fed.
• 6:14:37
  They never miss a concert. Yes, I did not see them myself,
• 6:14:41
  but I heard mister Elliot say they were in the room, the yebbotsuns.
• 6:14:45
  Were they there? And the two new beauties with the tall Irish officer
• 6:14:49
  who is talked of for one of them, I do not know. I
• 6:14:52
  do not think they were old lady Mary mc lean. I need not ask
• 6:14:57
  after her. She never missed, I know, and you must have seen
• 6:15:02
  her. She must have been in your own circle, for as you went
• 6:15:06
  with Lady Dalrymple, you were in the seats of grandeur round the orchestra.
• 6:15:10
  Of course, no, that was what I dreaded. It would have been
• 6:15:12
  very unpleasant to me in every respect. But happily Lady Dalrymple always chooses to
• 6:15:18
  be further off, and we were exceedingly well placed. That is for hearing.
• 6:15:22
  I must not say foreseeing, because I appeared to have seen very little.
• 6:15:27
  Oh, you saw enough for your own amusement. I can understand.
• 6:15:32
  There is a sort of domestic enjoyment to be known, even in a crowd,
• 6:15:36
  and this you had. You were a large party in yourselves, and
• 6:15:40
  you wanted nothing beyond. But I ought to have looked about me more,
• 6:15:44
  said Anne conscious while she spoke that there had, in fact been no want
• 6:15:48
  of looking about that the object only had been deficient. No, no,
• 6:15:52
  you were better employed. You need not tell me that you had a pleasant
• 6:15:56
  evening. I see it in your eye, I puss see how the hours
• 6:16:00
  passed that you had always something agreeable to listen to in the intervals of the
• 6:16:06
  concert. It was conversation. Anne half smiled and said, do you see
• 6:16:10
  that in my eye? Yes? I do. Your countenance perfectly informs me
• 6:16:15
  that you were in company last night with the person whom you think the most
• 6:16:19
  agreeable in the world, the person who interests you at this present time more
• 6:16:25
  than all the rest of the world. Put together a blush overspread Ant's cheeks,
• 6:16:30
  she could say nothing, and such being the case, continued Missus Smith,
• 6:16:36
  after a short pause. I hope you believe that I do know how
• 6:16:38
  to value your kindness in coming to me this morning. It is really very
• 6:16:44
  good of you to come and sit with me when you must have so many
• 6:16:47
  pleasanter demands upon your time. Anne heard nothing of this. She was still
• 6:16:52
  in the astonishment and confusion, excited by her friend's penetration, unable to imagine
• 6:16:56
  how any report of Captain Wentworth could have reached her. After another short silence,
• 6:17:03
  pray said Missus Smith. Is mister Eliot aware of your acquaintance with me?
• 6:17:08
  Does he know that I am in bar? Mister Elliot repeated Anne,
• 6:17:14
  looking up surprised. A moment's reflection showed her the mistake she had been under.
• 6:17:18
  She caught it instantaneously, and, recovering her courage with the feeling of
• 6:17:22
  safety, soon added more composedly, are you acquainted with mister Elliot? I
• 6:17:29
  have been a good deal acquainted with him, replied Missus Smith gravely, but
• 6:17:33
  it seems worn out now. It is a great while since we met.
• 6:17:37
  I was not at all aware of this. You never mentioned it before.
• 6:17:41
  Had I known it, I would have had the pleasure of talking to him
• 6:17:45
  about you to confess the truth, said Missus Smith, assuming her usual air
• 6:17:49
  of cheerfulness. That is exactly the pleasure I want you to have. I
• 6:17:53
  want you to talk about me to mister Elliot. I want your interest with
• 6:17:57
  him. He can be of essential service to me. And if you would
• 6:18:03
  have the goodness, my dear miss Eliot, to make it an object to
• 6:18:06
  yourself, of course it is done. I should be extremely happy. I
• 6:18:11
  hope you cannot doubt my willingness to be of even the slightest use to you,
• 6:18:15
  replied Dane. But I suspect that you are considering me as having a
• 6:18:18
  higher claim on mister Eliot, a greater right to influence him than is really
• 6:18:22
  the case. I am sure you have somehow or other imbibed such a notion.
• 6:18:29
  You must consider me only is mister Eliot's relation. If in that light
• 6:18:33
  there is anything which you suppose his cousin might fairly ask of him, I
• 6:18:37
  beg you would not hesitate to employ me. Missus Smith gave her a penetrating
• 6:18:41
  glance, and then, smiling said, I have been a little premature,
• 6:18:47
  I perceive I beg your pardon. I ought to have waited for official information.
• 6:18:53
  But now, my dear miss Eliot, as an old friend, do
• 6:18:56
  give me a hint as to when I may speak next week, to be
• 6:19:00
  sure by next week I may be allowed to think it all settled and build
• 6:19:03
  my own selfish schemes on mister Elliot's good fortune. No, replied Anne,
• 6:19:08
  nor next week, nor next nor next I assure you that nothing of the
• 6:19:14
  sort you are thinking of will be settled any week. I am not going
• 6:19:18
  to marry mister Elliot, I should like to know why you imagine I am.
• 6:19:22
  Missus Smith looked at her again, looked earnestly, smiled, shook her
• 6:19:27
  head, and exclaimed, Now, how I do wish I understood you?
• 6:19:32
  How I do wish I knew what you were at. I have a great
• 6:19:36
  idea that you do not design to be cruel when the right moment occurs,
• 6:19:41
  till it does come. You know, we women never mean to have anybody.
• 6:19:45
  It is a thing of course among us that every man is refused till
• 6:19:48
  he offers. But why should you be cruel? Let me plead for my
• 6:19:55
  present friend I cannot call him, but for my former friend. Where can
• 6:19:59
  you you look for a more suitable match? Where could you expect a more
• 6:20:03
  gentlemanlike, agreeable man? Let me recommend mister Elliot. I am sure you
• 6:20:07
  hear nothing but good of him from Colonel Wallace. And who can know him
• 6:20:11
  better than Colonel Wallace. My dear missus Smith, mister Elliot's wife has not
• 6:20:17
  been dead much above half a year. He ought not to be supposed to
• 6:20:22
  be paying his addresses to anyone. Oh, if these are your own objections,
• 6:20:26
  cried missus Smith archly, mister Elliot is safe, and I shall give
• 6:20:30
  myself no more trouble about him. Do not forget me when you are married,
• 6:20:34
  that's all. Let him know me to be a friend of yours,
• 6:20:38
  and then he will think little of the trouble required, which it is very
• 6:20:42
  natural for him now, with so many affairs and engagements of his own to
• 6:20:48
  avoid and get rid of as he can. Very natural, perhaps ninety nine
• 6:20:52
  out of a hundred would do the same. Of course, he cannot be
• 6:20:56
  aware of the importance to me. Well, my dear dear miss Eliot,
• 6:21:00
  I hope and trust you will be very happy. Mister Eliot has sense to
• 6:21:06
  understand the value of such a woman. Your peace will not be shipwrecked as
• 6:21:10
  mine has been. You are safe in all worldly matters, and safe in
• 6:21:15
  his character. He will not be led astray, he will not be misled
• 6:21:19
  by others to his ruin. No, so, Dan can readily believe all
• 6:21:23
  that of my cousin. He seems to have a calm, decided temper,
• 6:21:27
  not at all open to dangerous impressions. I consider him with great respect.
• 6:21:33
  I have no reason, from anything that has fallen within my observation to do
• 6:21:37
  otherwise. But I have not known him long, and he is not a
• 6:21:41
  man I think to be known intimately soon, will not this manner of speaking
• 6:21:48
  of him, Missus Smith, convince you that he is nothing to me.
• 6:21:51
  Surely this must be calm enough. And upon my word, he is nothing
• 6:21:56
  to me. Should he ever propose to me, which I have very little
• 6:21:59
  reason to imagine he has any thought of doing, I shall not accept him.
• 6:22:03
  I assure you, I shall not. I assure you, mister Elliot
• 6:22:07
  had not the share which you have been supposing, in whatever pleasure the concert
• 6:22:11
  of last night might afford, not mister Elliot, It is not mister Elliot
• 6:22:17
  that she started regretting with a deep blush that she had implied so much.
• 6:22:22
  But lass would hardly have been sufficient. Missus Smith would hardly have believed so
• 6:22:27
  soon in mister Elliott's failure. But from the perception of there being a somebody
• 6:22:32
  else as it was, she instantly submitted, and with all the semblance of
• 6:22:37
  seeing nothing beyond and Anne eager to escape farther notice, was impatient to know
• 6:22:42
  why Missus Smith should have fancied she was to marry mister Elliot. Where had
• 6:22:47
  she received the idea, or from whom she could have heard it, Do
• 6:22:49
  tell me how it first came into your head. It first came into my
• 6:22:53
  head, replied Missus Smith, upon finding how much you were together, and
• 6:23:00
  feeling it to be the most probable thing in the world to be wished for
• 6:23:03
  by everybody belonging to either of you. And you may depend upon it that
• 6:23:07
  all your acquaintance have disposed of you in the same way. But I never
• 6:23:11
  heard it spoken of till two days ago. And has it indeed been spoken
• 6:23:17
  of? Did you observe the woman who opened the door to you when you
• 6:23:19
  called yesterday? No? Was not it Missus Speed as usual, or the
• 6:23:25
  maid. I observed, no one in particular. It was my friend,
• 6:23:29
  Missus Rooke, Nurse Rooke, who by the bye, had a great curiosity
• 6:23:33
  to see you, and was delighted to be in the way to let you
• 6:23:36
  in. She came away from Marlborough Buildings only on Sunday, and she it
• 6:23:41
  was who told me you were to marry mister Elliot. She had had it
• 6:23:45
  from Missus Wallace herself, which did not seem bad authority. She sat an
• 6:23:49
  hour with me on Monday evening and gave me the whole history, The whole
• 6:23:55
  history, repeated Anne, laughing she could not make a very long history think
• 6:24:00
  of one such little article of unfounded news. Missus Smith said nothing, but
• 6:24:06
  continued aane. Presently, though there is no truth in my having this claim
• 6:24:11
  on mister Elliot, I should be extremely happy to be of use to you
• 6:24:14
  in a way that I could. Shall I mention to him your being in
• 6:24:17
  bath? Shall I take any message? No, I thank you. No,
• 6:24:22
  certainly not in the warmth of the moment, and under a mistaken impression.
• 6:24:27
  I might perhaps have endeavored to interest you in some circumstances, but not
• 6:24:33
  now. No, I thank you. I have nothing to trouble you with.
• 6:24:37
  I think you spoke of having known mister Elliot many years. I did
• 6:24:42
  not before he was married. I suppose, yes, he was not married
• 6:24:48
  when I knew him first, And were you much acquainted intimately? Indeed,
• 6:24:53
  then do tell me what he was at that time of life. I have
• 6:24:56
  a great curiosity to know what mister Elliott was as a very young man.
• 6:25:02
  Was he at all such as he appears now? I have not seen mister
• 6:25:04
  Elliot these three years. Was Missus Smith's answer, given so gravely that it
• 6:25:11
  was impossible to pursue the subject. Farther, and Anne felt that she had
• 6:25:15
  gained nothing but an increase of curiosity. They were both silent. Missus Smith
• 6:25:21
  very thoughtful. At last, I beg your pardon, my dear miss Eliot,
• 6:25:26
  she cried, in her natural tone of cordiality. I beg your pardon
• 6:25:30
  for the short answers I have been giving you. But I have been uncertain
• 6:25:33
  what I ought to do. I have been doubting and considering as to what
• 6:25:37
  I ought to tell you. There were many things to be taken into the
• 6:25:41
  account. One hates to be officious, to be giving bad impressions, making
• 6:25:47
  mischief. Even the smooth surface of family union seems worth preserving, though there
• 6:25:53
  may be nothing durable underneath. However, I have determined I think I am
• 6:26:00
  right. I think you ought to be made acquainted with mister Elliot's real character.
• 6:26:06
  Though I fully believe that at present you have not the smallest intention of
• 6:26:10
  accepting him. There is no saying what may happen. You might, sometime
• 6:26:15
  or other be differently affected towards him. Hear the truth. Therefore, now,
• 6:26:22
  while you are unprejudiced, mister Elliot is a man without heart or conscience,
• 6:26:29
  a designing, wary, cold blooded being who thinks only of himself,
• 6:26:33
  whom, for his own interest or ease, would be guilty of any cruelty
• 6:26:38
  or any treachery that could be perpetrated without risk of his general character. He
• 6:26:45
  has no feeling for others, those whom he has been the chief cause of
• 6:26:49
  leading into ruin. He can neglect and desert without the smallest compunction. He
• 6:26:56
  is totally beyond the reach of any sentiment of justice or compassion. Oh,
• 6:27:02
  he is black at heart, hollow and black and astonished air. An exclamation
• 6:27:07
  of wonder made her pause, and in a calmer manner, she added,
• 6:27:12
  My expressions startle you. You must allow for an injured, angry woman.
• 6:27:18
  But I will try to command myself. I will not abuse him. I
• 6:27:22
  will only tell you what I have found him. Facts shall speak. He
• 6:27:29
  was the intimate friend of my dear husband, who trusted and loved him,
• 6:27:33
  and thought him as good as himself. The intimacy had been formed before our
• 6:27:38
  marriage. I found them most intimate friends, and I too became excessively pleased
• 6:27:45
  with mister Elliot, and entertained the highest opinion of him. At nineteen.
• 6:27:51
  You know, one does not think very seriously, But mister Elliot appeared to
• 6:27:56
  me quite as good as others, and much more agreeable than most others,
• 6:28:00
  and we were almost always together. We were principally in town, living in
• 6:28:07
  very good style. He was then the inferior in circumstances. He was then
• 6:28:11
  the poor one. He had chambers in the temple, and it was as
• 6:28:17
  much as he could do to support the appearance of a gentleman. He had
• 6:28:21
  always a home with us, whenever he chose it. He was always welcome.
• 6:28:26
  He was like a brother. My poor Charles, who had the finest,
• 6:28:30
  most generous spirit in the world, would have divided his last farthing with
• 6:28:34
  him, and I know that his purse was open to him. I know
• 6:28:38
  that he often assisted him. This must have been about that very period of
• 6:28:44
  mister Eliot's life, so dan, which has always excited my particular curiosity.
• 6:28:49
  It must have been about the same time that he became known to my father
• 6:28:52
  and sister. I never knew him myself. I only heard of him.
• 6:28:57
  But there was a something in his conduct then with regard to my father and
• 6:29:00
  sister, and afterwards in the circumstances of his marriage, which I never could
• 6:29:06
  quite reconcile with present times. It seemed to announce a different sort of man.
• 6:29:11
  I know it all, I know it all, cried missus Smith.
• 6:29:15
  He had been introduced to Sir Walter and your sister before I was acquainted with
• 6:29:18
  him, but I heard him speak of them forever. I know he was
• 6:29:22
  invited and encouraged, and I know he did not choose to go. I
• 6:29:27
  can satisfy you, perhaps on points which you would little expect. And as
• 6:29:33
  to his marriage, I knew all about it at the time. I was
• 6:29:37
  privy to all the fours and againsts I was the friend to whom he confided
• 6:29:41
  his hopes and plans. And though I did not know his wife previously,
• 6:29:45
  her inferior situation in society indeed rendered that impossible. Yet I knew her all
• 6:29:52
  her life afterwards, or at least till within the last two years of her
• 6:29:56
  life, and can answer any question you may wish to put. Nay,
• 6:30:00
  said Anne, I've no particular inquiry to make about her. I have always
• 6:30:04
  understood they were not a happy couple, but I should like to know why,
• 6:30:10
  at that time of his life he should slight my father's acquaintance as he
• 6:30:12
  did. My father was certainly disposed to take very kind and proper notice of
• 6:30:18
  him. Why did mister Elliot drop back? Mister Elliot replied, Missus Smith,
• 6:30:23
  at that period of his life, had one object in view, to
• 6:30:27
  make his fortune, and by a rather quicker process than the law. He
• 6:30:33
  was determined to make it by marriage. He was determined at least not to
• 6:30:38
  mar it by an imprudent marriage. And I know it was his belief,
• 6:30:42
  whether justly or not. Of course, I cannot decide that your father and
• 6:30:48
  sister, in their civilities and invitations, were designing a match between the heir
• 6:30:52
  and the young lady, and it was impossible that such a match should have
• 6:30:56
  answered his ideas of wealth and independs. That was his motive for drawing back.
• 6:31:02
  I can assure you he told me the whole story. He had no
• 6:31:07
  concealments with me. It was curious that, having just left you behind me
• 6:31:11
  in bath, my first and principal acquaintance on marrying should be your cousin,
• 6:31:17
  and that through him I should be continually hearing of your father and sister.
• 6:31:22
  He described one, Miss Eliot, and I thought very affectionately of the other,
• 6:31:27
  Perhaps cried Anne, Struck by a sudden idea. You sometimes spoke of
• 6:31:33
  me to mister Elliot, to be sure, I did very often. I
• 6:31:37
  used to boast of my own, Anne Eliot, and vouch for your being
• 6:31:41
  a very different creature from She checked herself just in time. This accounts for
• 6:31:47
  something which mister Elliot said last night, cried Anne. This explains it.
• 6:31:52
  I found he had been used to hear of me. I could not comprehend
• 6:31:56
  how what wild imagine nations one forms where dear self is concerned, How sure
• 6:32:03
  to be mistaken? But I beg your pardon, I've interrupted you. Mister
• 6:32:07
  Elliot married then completely for money. The circumstances probably which first opened your eyes
• 6:32:15
  to character. Missus Smith hesitated a little here, Oh, these things are
• 6:32:18
  too common when one lives in the world. A man or woman's marrying for
• 6:32:23
  money is too common to strike one as it ought. I was very young
• 6:32:29
  and associated only with the young, and we were a thoughtless gay set without
• 6:32:33
  any strict rules of conduct. We lived for enjoyment. I think differently now.
• 6:32:41
  Time and sickness and sorrow have given me other notions. But at that
• 6:32:45
  period I must own I saw nothing reprehensible in what mister Elliot was doing to
• 6:32:52
  do the best for himself. Passed as a duty. But was not she
• 6:32:56
  a very low woman? Yes, which I objected to, But he would
• 6:33:00
  not regard money. Money was all that he wanted. Her father was a
• 6:33:06
  grazier, her grandfather had been a butcher, but that was all nothing.
• 6:33:11
  She was a fine woman, had had a decent education, was brought forward
• 6:33:15
  by some cousins, thrown by chance into mister Eliot's company, and fell in
• 6:33:19
  love with him. And not a difficulty or a scruple was there on his
• 6:33:23
  side with respect to her birth. All his caution was spent on being secured
• 6:33:30
  of the real amount of her fortune before he committed himself depend upon it.
• 6:33:36
  Whatever esteem mister Eliot may have for his own situation in life, now,
• 6:33:41
  as a young man, he had not the smallest value for it. His
• 6:33:45
  chance for the Kellingerestate was something, but all the honor of the family he
• 6:33:48
  held as cheap as dirt. I have often heard him declare that if baronetcy's
• 6:33:53
  were saleable, anybody should have his for fifty pounds, arms and motto,
• 6:33:59
  name and livery included. But I will not pretend to repeat half that I
• 6:34:03
  used to hear him say on that subject. It would not be fair.
• 6:34:07
  And yet you ought to have proof. For what is all this but assertion?
• 6:34:11
  And you shall have proof. Indeed, my dear Missus Smith, I
• 6:34:15
  want mane cried Anne. You have asserted nothing contradictory to what mister Elliot appeared
• 6:34:21
  to be some years ago. This is all in confirmation rather of what we
• 6:34:25
  used to hear and believe. I'm more curious to know why he should be
• 6:34:29
  so different now. But from my satisfaction, if you will have the goodness
• 6:34:33
  to ring for Mary stay, I am sure you will have the still greater
• 6:34:37
  goodness of going yourself into my bedroom and bringing me the small inlaid box which
• 6:34:42
  you will find on the upper shelf of the closet. Anne, seeing her
• 6:34:45
  friend to be earnestly bent on it dead as she was desired, the box
• 6:34:51
  was brought and placed before her, and Missus Smith, sighing over it as
• 6:34:55
  she unlocked it, said, this is full of papers belonging to him,
• 6:34:59
  to my husband, a small portion only of what I had to look over
• 6:35:03
  when I lost him. The letter I am looking for was one written by
• 6:35:07
  mister Eliot to him before our marriage, and happened to be saved. Why
• 6:35:11
  one can hardly imagine. But he was careless and immethodical like other men about
• 6:35:15
  these things. And when I came to examine his papers, I found it
• 6:35:21
  with others still more trivial from different people, scattered here and there. While
• 6:35:26
  many letters and memorandums of real importance had been destroyed, here it is.
• 6:35:32
  I would not burn it, because, being even then very little satisfied with
• 6:35:36
  mister Eliot, I was determined to preserve every document of former intimacy. I
• 6:35:41
  have now another motive for being glad that I can produce it. This was
• 6:35:45
  the letter directed to Charles Smith, Esquire, Tunbridge Wells, and dated from
• 6:35:51
  London as far back as July eighteen o three. Dear Smith, I have
• 6:35:56
  received yours. Your kindness almost overpowers me. I wish nature had made such
• 6:36:00
  hearts as yours more common, but I have lived three and twenty years in
• 6:36:04
  the world and have seen none like it. At present. Believe me,
• 6:36:07
  I have no need of your services being in cash again, give me joy.
• 6:36:11
  I have got rid of Sir Walter and miss They are gone back to
• 6:36:15
  Kellynch, and almost made me swear to visit them this summer. But my
• 6:36:18
  first visit to Kellynch will be with a surveyor to tell me how to bring
• 6:36:22
  it with best advantage to the hammer. The baronet nevertheless, is not unlikely
• 6:36:26
  to marry again. He is quite fool enough. If he does, however,
• 6:36:30
  they will leave me in peace, which may be a decent equivalent for
• 6:36:33
  the reversion. He is worse than last year. I wish I had any
• 6:36:36
  name but Elliot. I am sick of it. The name of Walter I
• 6:36:40
  can drop, Thank God, and I desire you will never insult me with
• 6:36:42
  my second dou w again, meaning for the rest of my life to be
• 6:36:47
  only yours, truly, William Elliott. Such a letter could not be read
• 6:36:51
  without putting Anne in a glow, and Missus Smith, observing the high color
• 6:36:56
  in her face, said, the language I know is highly disrespectful. Though
• 6:37:00
  I have forgot the exact terms, I have a perfect impression of the general
• 6:37:04
  meaning. But it shows you the man mark his professions to my poor husband.
• 6:37:11
  Can anything be stronger? Anne could not immediately get over the shock and
• 6:37:15
  mortification of finding such words applied to her father. She was obliged to recollect
• 6:37:22
  that her seeing the letter was a violation of the laws of honor, that
• 6:37:26
  no one ought to be judged or to be known by such testimonies that no
• 6:37:30
  private correspondence could bear the eye of others. Before she could recover calmness enough
• 6:37:34
  to return the letter which she had been meditating over and say, thank you.
• 6:37:40
  This is full proof, undoubtedly proof of everything you were saying. But
• 6:37:45
  why be acquainted with us? Now? I can explain this too, cried
• 6:37:48
  missus Smith, smiling. Can you really yes? I have shown you mister
• 6:37:55
  Elliot as he was a dozen years ago, and I will show him as
• 6:37:57
  he is now. I cannot produce written proof again, but I can give
• 6:38:03
  as authentic oral testimony as you can desire of what he is now wanting and
• 6:38:07
  what he is now doing. He is no hypocrite now he truly wants to
• 6:38:12
  marry you. His present attentions to your family are very sincere, quite from
• 6:38:18
  the heart. I will give you my authority his friend Colonel Wallace. Colonel
• 6:38:22
  Wallace, you are acquainted with him. No, it does not come to
• 6:38:27
  me in quite so direct a line as that. It takes a bent or
• 6:38:30
  two, but nothing of consequence. The stream is as good as at first.
• 6:38:36
  The little rubbish it collects in the turnings is easily moved away. Mister
• 6:38:40
  Elliot talks unreservedly to Colonel Wallace of his views on you, which said Colonel
• 6:38:45
  Wallace, I imagine to be in himself a sensible, careful, discerning sort
• 6:38:48
  of character. But Colonel Wallace has a very pretty silly wife, to whom
• 6:38:53
  he tells things which he had better not, And he repeats it all to
• 6:38:57
  her. She and the over flowing spirits of her recovery, repeats it all
• 6:39:02
  to her nurse, and the nurse, knowing my acquaintance with you, very
• 6:39:06
  naturally, brings it all to me. On Monday evening, my good friend,
• 6:39:11
  Missus Wook let me thus much into the secrets of Marlborough buildings when I
• 6:39:15
  talked of a whole history. Therefore, you see I was not romancing so
• 6:39:18
  much as you supposed. My dear Missus Smith, your authority is deficient.
• 6:39:22
  This will not do. Mister Elliot's having any views on me will not in
• 6:39:27
  the least account for the efforts he made towards a reconciliation with my father.
• 6:39:32
  That was all prior to my coming to Bath. I found them on the
• 6:39:34
  most friendly terms when I arrived. I know you did. I know it
• 6:39:38
  all perfectly. But indeed, Missus Smith, we must not expect to get
• 6:39:42
  real information in such a line. Facts or opinions which are to pass through
• 6:39:47
  the hands of so many to be misconceived by folly in one and ignorance in
• 6:39:52
  another, can hardly have much truth left. Only give me a hearing.
• 6:39:57
  You will soon be able to judge of the general credit due by listening to
• 6:40:02
  some particulars which you can yourself immediately contradict or confirm. Nobody supposes that you
• 6:40:07
  were his first inducement. He had seen you, indeed before he came to
• 6:40:11
  Bath and admired you, but without knowing it to be you, so says
• 6:40:15
  my historian. At least is this true. Did he see you last summer
• 6:40:21
  or autumn somewhere down in the west, to use her own words, without
• 6:40:25
  knowing it to be you? He certainly did so far it is very true
• 6:40:30
  at Lime I happen to be at Lime well, continued missus Smith, triumphantly
• 6:40:37
  grant my friend the credit due to the establishment of the first point, asserted,
• 6:40:41
  he saw you then at Lyme and liked you so well as to be
• 6:40:45
  exceedingly pleased to meet with you again in Camden Place, as miss Anne Elliot,
• 6:40:49
  And from that moment I have no doubt had a double motive in his
• 6:40:53
  visits there. But there was another, and an earlier, which I will
• 6:40:59
  now explain. If there is anything in my story which you know to be
• 6:41:03
  either false or improbable, stop me. My account states that your sister's friend,
• 6:41:08
  the lady now staying with you, whom I have heard you mention,
• 6:41:11
  came to Bath with Miss Eliot and Sir Walter as long ago as September,
• 6:41:17
  in short, when they first came themselves, and has been staying there ever
• 6:41:21
  since. That she is a clever, insinuating, handsome woman, poor and
• 6:41:26
  plausible, and altogether such in situation and manner as to give a general idea
• 6:41:33
  among Sir Walter's acquaintance of her meaning to be Lady Elliot, and as general
• 6:41:38
  a surprise that Miss Eliot should be apparently blind to the danger here. Missus
• 6:41:45
  Smith paused a moment, but Anne had not a word to say, and
• 6:41:48
  she continued. This was the light in which it appeared to those who knew
• 6:41:52
  the family long before you returned to it. And Colonel Wallace had his eye
• 6:41:57
  upon your father enough to be sensible of it, though he did not then
• 6:42:02
  visit in Camden Place, but his regard for mister Elliot gave him an interest
• 6:42:06
  in watching all that was going on there. And when mister Elliot came to
• 6:42:10
  Bath for a day or two, as he happened to do a little before
• 6:42:14
  Christmas, Colonel Wallace made him acquainted with the appearance of things, and the
• 6:42:18
  reports beginning to prevail. Now you are to understand that time had worked a
• 6:42:23
  very material change in mister Elliot's opinions as to the value of a baronetcy.
• 6:42:30
  Upon all points of blood and connection. He is a completely altered man,
• 6:42:34
  Having long had as much money as he could spend, nothing to wish for
• 6:42:38
  on the side of avarice or indulgence, he has been gradually learning to pin
• 6:42:44
  his happiness upon the consequence he is heir to. I thought it coming on
• 6:42:48
  before our acquaintance ceased, but it is now a confirmed feeling. He cannot
• 6:42:53
  bear the idea of not being Sir William. You may guess therefore, that
• 6:43:00
  the news he heard from his friend could not be very agreeable, and you
• 6:43:03
  may guess what it produced, the resolution of coming back to Bath as soon
• 6:43:07
  as possible, and of fixing himself here for a time with the view of
• 6:43:11
  renewing his former acquaintance and recovering such a footing in the family as might give
• 6:43:17
  him the means of ascertaining the degree of his danger, and of circumventing the
• 6:43:22
  lady if he found it material. This was agreed on between the two friends
• 6:43:26
  as the only thing to be done, and Colonel Wallace was to assist in
• 6:43:30
  every way that he could. He was to be introduced, and Missus Wallace
• 6:43:33
  was to be introduced, and everybody was to be introduced. Mister Elliot came
• 6:43:38
  back accordingly, and on application was forgiven as you know, and readmitted into
• 6:43:42
  the family. And there it was his constant object and his only object till
• 6:43:48
  your arrival. Added another motive to watch Sir Walter and Missus Clay. He
• 6:43:55
  omitted no opportunity of being with them, threw himself in their way called at
• 6:43:59
  all hours. But I need not be particular on this subject. You can
• 6:44:03
  imagine what an artful man would do, and with this guide perhaps may recollect
• 6:44:10
  what you have seen him do. Yes, said Dane, you tell me
• 6:44:14
  nothing which does not accord with what I have known or could imagine. There
• 6:44:18
  is always something offensive in the details of cunning, the maneuvers of selfishness and
• 6:44:23
  duplicity must ever be revolting. But I have heard nothing which really surprises me.
• 6:44:29
  I know those who would be shocked by such a representation of mister Elliot,
• 6:44:33
  who would have difficulty in believing it. But I have never been satisfied.
• 6:44:37
  I've always wanted some other motive for his conduct than appeared. I should
• 6:44:42
  like to know his present opinion as to the probability of the event he has
• 6:44:47
  been in dread of, whether he considers the danger to be lessening or not
• 6:44:52
  lessening. I understand, replied Missus Smith. He thinks Missus Clay afraid of
• 6:44:56
  him, aware that he sees through her, and not daring to proceed as
• 6:45:02
  she might do in his absence. But since he must be absent some time
• 6:45:06
  or other, I do not perceive how he can ever be secure while she
• 6:45:10
  holds her present influence. Missus Wallace has an amusing idea, as nurse tells
• 6:45:15
  me, that it is to be put into the marriage articles when you and
• 6:45:18
  mister Elliot marry, that your father is not to marry Missus Clay, a
• 6:45:22
  scheme worthy of Missus Wallace's understanding by all accounts. But my sensible Nurse Rook
• 6:45:27
  sees the absurdity of it. Why to be sure, ma'am, said she,
• 6:45:33
  it would not prevent his marrying anybody else, And indeed, to own
• 6:45:37
  the truth, I do not think Nurse in her heart is a very strenuous
• 6:45:41
  supposer of Sir Walter's making a second match. She must be allowed to be
• 6:45:45
  a favorer of matrimony, you know, And since self will intrude, who
• 6:45:49
  can say that she may not have some flying visions of attending the next Lady
• 6:45:53
  Eliot through Missus Wallace's recommendation. I am very glad to know all this,
• 6:46:00
  Anne. After a little thoughtfulness, it will be more painful to me in
• 6:46:03
  some respects to be in company with him, but I shall know better what
• 6:46:07
  to do. My line of conduct will be more direct. Mister Elliot is
• 6:46:11
  evidently a disingenuous, artificial worldly man, who has never had any better principle
• 6:46:18
  to guide him than selfishness. But mister Elliot was not done with Missus Smith
• 6:46:23
  had been carried away from her first direction, and Anne had forgotten, in
• 6:46:27
  the interest of her own family concerns, how much had been originally implied against
• 6:46:33
  him. But her attention was now called to the explanation of those first hints,
• 6:46:37
  and she listened to a recital, which, if it did not perfectly
• 6:46:41
  justify the unqualified bitterness of Missus Smith, proved him to have been very unfeeling
• 6:46:47
  in his conduct towards her, very deficient both injustice and compassion. She learned
• 6:46:53
  that the intimacy between them continuing unimpaired by mister Elliot's marriage. They had been
• 6:47:00
  as before, always together, and mister Eliot had led his friend into expenses
• 6:47:03
  much beyond his fortune. Missus Smith did not want to take blame to herself,
• 6:47:08
  and was most tender of throwing any on her husband. But Anne could
• 6:47:14
  collect that their income had never been equal to their style of living, and
• 6:47:18
  that from the first there had been a great deal of general and joint extravagance.
• 6:47:22
  From his wife's account of him, she could desert mister Smith to have
• 6:47:26
  been a man of warm feelings, easy temper, careless habits, and not
• 6:47:30
  strong understanding, much more amiable than his friend, and very unlike him,
• 6:47:36
  led by him, and probably despised by him. Mister Eliot, raised by
• 6:47:41
  his marriage to a great affluence, and disposed to every gratification of pleasure and
• 6:47:45
  vanity which could be commanded without involving himself, for with all his self indulgence,
• 6:47:51
  he had become a prudent man, and beginning to be rich, just
• 6:47:55
  as his friend ought to have found himself to be poor. Seemed to have
• 6:47:59
  had no concern at all for that friend's probable finances, but on the contrary,
• 6:48:03
  had been prompting and encouraging expenses which could end only in ruin, and
• 6:48:07
  the Smiths accordingly had been ruined. The husband had died just in time to
• 6:48:15
  be spared the full knowledge of it. They had previously known embarrassments enough to
• 6:48:19
  try the friendship of their friends, and to prove that mister Eliot's had better
• 6:48:23
  not be tried. But it was not till his death that the wretched state
• 6:48:27
  of his affairs were fully known. With a confidence in mister Elliot's regard more
• 6:48:33
  creditable to his feelings than his judgment, mister Smith had appointed him the executor
• 6:48:37
  of his will, but mister Eliot would not act, and the difficulties and
• 6:48:42
  distress which this refusal had heaps on her, in addition to the inevitable sufferings
• 6:48:47
  of her situation, had been such as could not be related without anguish of
• 6:48:52
  spirit or listened to without corresponding indignation. Anne was shown some letters of his
• 6:48:59
  on the occasion answers to urgent applications from Missus Smith, which all breathed the
• 6:49:03
  same stern resolution of not engaging in a fruitless trouble, and under a cold
• 6:49:08
  civility, the same hard hearted indifference to any of the evils it might bring
• 6:49:14
  on her. It was a dreadful picture of ingratitude and inhumanity, and Anne
• 6:49:19
  felt at some moments that no flagrant open crime could have been worse. She
• 6:49:25
  had a great deal to listen to. All the particulars of past sad scenes,
• 6:49:30
  or the minutia of distress upon distress, which in former conversations had been
• 6:49:33
  merely hinted at, were dwelt on now with a natural indulgence. Anne could
• 6:49:38
  perfectly comprehend the exquisite relief, and was only the more inclined to wonder at
• 6:49:44
  the composure of her friend's usual state of mind. There was one circumstance in
• 6:49:49
  the history of her grievances of particular irritation. She had good reason to believe
• 6:49:55
  that some property of her husband in the West Indies, which had been for
• 6:49:57
  many years under a sort of sequestration, for the payment of its own incumbrances
• 6:50:03
  might be recoverable by proper measures, and this property, though not large,
• 6:50:07
  would be enough to make her comparatively rich. But there was nobody to stir
• 6:50:11
  in it. Mister Elliot would do nothing, and she could do nothing herself,
• 6:50:15
  equally disabled from personal exertion by her state of bodily weakness and from employing
• 6:50:21
  others by her want of money. She had no natural connections to assist her,
• 6:50:26
  even with their counsel, and she could not afford to purchase the assistance
• 6:50:30
  of the law. This was a cruel aggravation of actually straitened means. To
• 6:50:36
  feel that she ought to be in better circumstances, that a little trouble in
• 6:50:38
  the right place might do it, and to fear that delay might be even
• 6:50:42
  weakening her claims was hard to bear. It was on this point that she
• 6:50:48
  hoped to engage Anne's good offices with mister Elliot. She had previously, in
• 6:50:52
  the anticipation of their marriage, been very apprehensive of losing her friend by it,
• 6:50:57
  but on being assured that he could have made no attempt of that nature
• 6:51:02
  since he did not even know her to be in bath, it immediately occurred
• 6:51:04
  that something might be done in her favor by the influence of the woman he
• 6:51:08
  loved, and she had been hastily preparing to interest Anne's feelings, as far
• 6:51:12
  as the observance is due to mister Elliot's character would allow. When Anne's refutation
• 6:51:18
  of the supposed engagement changed the face of everything and what it took from her,
• 6:51:22
  the new formed hope of succeeding in the object of her first anxiety left
• 6:51:27
  her at least the comforts of telling the whole story her own way. After
• 6:51:33
  listening to this full description of mister Elliot, Anne could not but express some
• 6:51:37
  surprise at Missus Smith's having spoken of him so favorably. In the beginning of
• 6:51:41
  their conversation. She had seemed to recommend and praise him. My dear,
• 6:51:47
  was Missus Smith's reply. There was nothing else to be done. I considered
• 6:51:52
  your marrying him as certain, though he might not yet have made the offer,
• 6:51:56
  and I could no more speak the truth of him than if he had
• 6:52:00
  been your husband. My heart bled for you as I talked of happiness.
• 6:52:04
  And yet he is sensible, he is agreeable, and with such a woman
• 6:52:10
  as you, it was not absolutely hopeless. He was very unkind to his
• 6:52:15
  first wife. They were wretched together, but she was too ignorant and giddy
• 6:52:19
  for respect, and he had never loved her. I was willing to hope
• 6:52:23
  that you must fare better. Anne could just acknowledge within herself such a possibility
• 6:52:30
  of having been induced to marry him, as made her shudder at the idea
• 6:52:33
  of the misery which must have followed. It was just possible that she might
• 6:52:37
  have been persuaded by Lady Russell, and under such a supposition, which would
• 6:52:42
  have been most miserable when time had disclosed or too late. It was very
• 6:52:48
  desirable that Lady Russell should no longer be deceived. And one of the concluding
• 6:52:52
  arrangements of this important conference, which carried them through the greater part of the
• 6:52:56
  morning, was that Anne had full liberty to communicate to her friend everything relative
• 6:53:03
  to Missus Smith in which his conduct was involved. End of Chapter twenty one
• 6:53:10
  of Persuasion. Chapter twenty two of Persuasion. Anne went home to think over
• 6:53:15
  all that she had heard. In one point, her feelings were relieved by
• 6:53:19
  this knowledge. Of mister Elliot. There was no longer anything of tenderness due
• 6:53:23
  to him. He stood as opposed to Captain Wentworth in all his own unwelcome
• 6:53:29
  obtrusiveness and the evil of his intentions. Last night, the irremedial mischief he
• 6:53:33
  might have done was considered with sensations, unqualified, unperplexed pity for him was
• 6:53:41
  all over. But this was the only point of relief. In every other
• 6:53:45
  respect, in looking around her or penetrating forward, she saw more to distrust
• 6:53:51
  and to apprehend. She was concerned by the disappointment and paying Lady Russell would
• 6:53:55
  be feeling for the mortifications which must be hanging over her father and sister,
• 6:54:00
  and had all the distress of foreseeing many evils without knowing how to avert any
• 6:54:03
  one of them. She was most thankful for her own knowledge of him.
• 6:54:08
  She had never considered herself as entitled to reward for not slighting an old friend
• 6:54:12
  like Missus Smith. But here was a reward, indeed, springing from it.
• 6:54:17
  Missus Smith had been able to tell her what no one else could have
• 6:54:21
  done. Could the knowledge have been extended through her family? But this was
• 6:54:26
  a vain idea. She must talk to Lady Russell, tell her, consult
• 6:54:30
  with her, and having done her best, wait the event with as much
• 6:54:33
  composure as possible, and after all, her greatest want of composure would be
• 6:54:40
  in that quarter of the mind which could not be open to Lady Russell,
• 6:54:44
  in that flow of anxieties and fears which must be all to herself. She
• 6:54:49
  found on reaching home that she had, as she intended, escaped seeing mister
• 6:54:55
  Elliot, that he had called and paid them a long morning visit. But
• 6:54:59
  hardly had she conclus gratulated herself and felt safe when she heard that he was
• 6:55:03
  coming again in the evening. I had not the smallest intention of asking him,
• 6:55:07
  said Elizabeth, with affected carelessness. But he gave so many hints,
• 6:55:11
  so missus Clay says, at least, indeed, I do say it.
• 6:55:17
  I never saw anybody in my life spell harder for an invitation poor man.
• 6:55:22
  I was really in pain for him. For your hard hearted sister, miss
• 6:55:26
  Anne, seems bent on cruelty, oh, cried Elizabeth. I have been
• 6:55:30
  rather too much used to the game to be so soon overcome by a gentleman's
• 6:55:33
  hints. However, when I found how excessively he was regretting that he should
• 6:55:37
  miss my father this morning, I gave way immediately, for I would never
• 6:55:41
  really emit such an opportunity of bringing him and Sir Walter. Together they appeared
• 6:55:45
  to so much advantage in company with each other, each behaving so pleasantly.
• 6:55:49
  Mister Elliot looking up with so much respect. Quite delightful, cried missus Clay,
• 6:55:56
  not daring, however, to turn her eyes towards Anne, exactly like
• 6:56:00
  father and son. Dear miss Elliot, may I not say father and son.
• 6:56:04
  Oh, I lay no embargo on anybody's words, if you will have
• 6:56:08
  such ideas, But upon my word, I am scarcely sensible of his attentions
• 6:56:12
  being beyond those of other men. My dear miss Eliot, exclaimed Missus Clay,
• 6:56:18
  lifting her hands and eyes and sinking all the rest of her astonishment in
• 6:56:22
  a convenient silence. Well, my dear Penelope, you need not be so
• 6:56:26
  alarmed about him. I did invite him, you know. I sent him
• 6:56:29
  away with smiles when I found he was really going to his friends at Thornberry
• 6:56:33
  Park for the whole day tomorrow. I had compassion on him. Anne admired
• 6:56:37
  the good acting of the friend in being able to show such pleasure as she
• 6:56:41
  did in the expectation and in the actual arrival of the very person whose presence
• 6:56:45
  must really be interfering with her prime object. It was impossible but that Missus
• 6:56:51
  Clay must hate the side of mister Elliot. And yet she could assume a
• 6:56:55
  most obliging, placid look and appear quite satisfied with the curtailed license of devoting
• 6:57:00
  herself only half as much to Sir Walter as she would have done otherwise to
• 6:57:06
  Anne herself. It was most distressing to see mister Elliot enter the room,
• 6:57:10
  and quite painful to have him approach and speak to her. She had been
• 6:57:15
  used before to feel that he could not be always quite sincere, but now
• 6:57:18
  she saw insincerity in everything. His attentive deference to her father, contrasted with
• 6:57:25
  his former language, was odious, and when she thought of his cruel conduct
• 6:57:30
  towards Missus Smith, she could hardly bear the sight of his present smiles and
• 6:57:33
  mildness, or the sound of his artificial good sentiments. She meant to avoid
• 6:57:38
  any such alteration of manners as might provoke a remonstrance on his side. It
• 6:57:44
  was a great object to her to escape all inquiry or a claw, But
• 6:57:48
  it was her intention to be as decidedly cool to him as might be compatible
• 6:57:52
  with their relationship, and to retrace as quietly as she could the few steps
• 6:57:57
  of unnecessary intimacy she had been gradually led along. She was accordingly more guarded
• 6:58:04
  and more cool than she had been the night before. He wanted to animate
• 6:58:10
  her curiosity again as to how and where he could have heard her formerly praised,
• 6:58:15
  wanted very much to be gratified by more solicitation, But the charm was
• 6:58:18
  broken. He found that the heat and animation of a public room was necessary
• 6:58:23
  to kindle his modest cousin's vanity. He found at least that it was not
• 6:58:29
  to be done now by any of those attempts which he could hazard among the
• 6:58:33
  two commanding claims of the others. He little surmised that it was a subject
• 6:58:37
  acting now exactly against his interest, bringing immediately to her thoughts all those parts
• 6:58:42
  of his conduct which were least excusable. She had some satisfaction in finding that
• 6:58:48
  he was really going out of Bath the next morning, going early, and
• 6:58:52
  that he would be gone the greater part of two days. He was invited
• 6:58:56
  again to Camden Place the very evening of his return, but from Thursday to
• 6:59:00
  Saturday evening his absence was certain. It was bad enough that a missus Clay
• 6:59:06
  should be always before her but that a deeper hypocrite should be added to their
• 6:59:10
  party seemed the destruction of everything like peace and comfort. It was so humiliating
• 6:59:15
  to reflect on the constant deception practiced on her father and Elizabeth, to consider
• 6:59:21
  the various sources of mortification preparing for them. Missus Clay's selfishness was not so
• 6:59:26
  complicate nor so revolting as his, and Anne would have compounded for the marriage
• 6:59:32
  at once with all his evils to be clear of mister Elliot's subtleties in endeavoring
• 6:59:36
  to prevent it. On Friday morning, she meant to go very early to
• 6:59:41
  Lady Russell and accomplish the necessary communication, and she would have gone directly after
• 6:59:45
  breakfast, but that missus Clay was also going out on some obliging purpose of
• 6:59:51
  saving her sister trouble, which determined her to wait till she might be safe
• 6:59:55
  from such a companion. She saw missus Clay fairly off. Therefore, before
• 7:00:00
  she began to talk of spending the morning in reverse street, very well,
• 7:00:03
  said Elizabeth, I have nothing to send but my love. Oh, you
• 7:00:07
  may as well take back that tiresome book she would lend me, and pretend
• 7:00:10
  I have read it through. I really cannot be plaguing myself for ever.
• 7:00:14
  With all the new poems and states of the Nation that come out. Lady
• 7:00:17
  Russell quite bores one with her new publications. You need not tell her so.
• 7:00:21
  But I thought her dress hideous the other night. I used to think
• 7:00:23
  she had some taste in dress, but I was ashamed of her at the
• 7:00:26
  concert, something so formal, and a range in her air, And she
• 7:00:30
  sits so upright. My best love, of course, and mine added Sir
• 7:00:36
  Walter, kindest regards. And you may say that I mean to call upon
• 7:00:41
  her soon make a civil message, but I shall only leave her hard morning
• 7:00:47
  visits in an affair by women at her time of life who make themselves up
• 7:00:51
  so little. If she would only wear a ruse, she would not be
• 7:00:53
  afraid of being seen. But last time I called, I observed the blind.
• 7:00:57
  We let down immediately. While her father spoke, there was a knock
• 7:01:02
  at the door. Who could it be? Anne, Remembering the preconcerted visits
• 7:01:07
  at all hours of mister Elliot would have expected him, but for his known
• 7:01:11
  engagement seven miles off. After the usual period of suspense, the usual sounds
• 7:01:17
  of approach were heard, and mister and Missus Charles Musgrove were ushered into the
• 7:01:21
  room. Surprise was the strongest emotion raised by their appearance. But Anne was
• 7:01:27
  really glad to see them, and the others were not so sorry, but
• 7:01:30
  that they could put on a decent air of welcome, And as soon as
• 7:01:33
  it became clear that these their nearest relations were not arrived with any views of
• 7:01:38
  accommodation in that house, Sir Walter and Elizabeth were able to rise in cordiality
• 7:01:44
  and do the honors of it very well. They were come to bath for
• 7:01:48
  a few days with Missus Musgrove, and were at the White Heart. So
• 7:01:52
  much was pretty soon understood. But till Sir Walter and Elizabeth were walking Mary
• 7:01:57
  into the other drawing room and regaling themselves with her admiration, Anne could not
• 7:02:03
  draw upon Charles's brain for a regular history of their coming, or an explanation
• 7:02:07
  of some smiling hints of particular business which had been ostentiously dropped by Mary,
• 7:02:11
  as well as of some apparent confusion as to whom their party consisted of.
• 7:02:17
  She then found that it consisted of Missus Musgrove, Henrietta, and Captain Harville,
• 7:02:22
  beside their two selves. He gave her a very plain, intelligible account
• 7:02:26
  of the whole, a narration in which she saw a great deal of most
• 7:02:30
  characteristic proceeding. The scheme had received its first impulse by Captain Harville's wanting to
• 7:02:34
  come to Bath on business. He had begun to talk of it a week
• 7:02:38
  ago, and by way of doing something as shooting was over, Charles had
• 7:02:42
  proposed coming with him and Missus Harville had seemed to like the idea of it
• 7:02:47
  very much as an advantage to her husband, but Mary could not bear to
• 7:02:51
  be left, and had made herself so unhappy about it that for a day
• 7:02:56
  or two everything seemed to be in suspense or read an end. But then
• 7:03:00
  it had been taken up by his father and mother. His mother had some
• 7:03:03
  old friends in Bath whom she wanted to see. It was thought a good
• 7:03:07
  opportunity for Henrietta to come and buy wedding clothes for herself and her sister,
• 7:03:11
  And in short it ended in being his mother's party. That everything might be
• 7:03:15
  comfortable and easy to Captain Harville, and he and Mary were included in it
• 7:03:21
  by way of general convenience. They had arrived late the night before Missus Harville,
• 7:03:26
  her children, and Captain Benwick remained with mister Musgrove and Louisa at Uppercross.
• 7:03:33
  Anne's only surprise was that affairs should be in forwardness enough for Henrietta's wedding
• 7:03:37
  clothes to be talked of. She had imagined such difficulties of fortune to exist
• 7:03:42
  there as must prevent the marriage from being near at hand. But she learned
• 7:03:48
  from Charles that very recently since Mary's last letter to herself, Charles Hayter had
• 7:03:52
  been applied to by a friend to hold a living for a youth who could
• 7:03:56
  not possibly claim it under many years, and that, on the strength of
• 7:04:00
  his present income, with almost a certainty of something more permanent long before the
• 7:04:04
  term in question, the two families had consented to the young people's wishes,
• 7:04:08
  and that their marriage was likely to take place in a few months, quite
• 7:04:12
  as soon as Louisa's, and a very good living it was, Charles added,
• 7:04:17
  only five and twenty miles from Uppercross, and in a very fine country,
• 7:04:19
  find part of Dorsetshire, in the center of some of the best preserves
• 7:04:23
  in the Kingdom, surrounded by three great proprietors, each more careful and jealous
• 7:04:29
  than the other, and to two of the three. At least Charles Hareter
• 7:04:32
  might get a special recommendation, not that he will value it as he ought
• 7:04:36
  he observed. Charles is too cool about sporting. That's the worst of him.
• 7:04:40
  I am extremely glad, indeed, cried Dane, particularly glad that this
• 7:04:45
  should happen, and that of two sisters who both deserve equally well, and
• 7:04:49
  who have always been such good friends. The present prospect of one should not
• 7:04:53
  be dimming those of the other, that they should be so equal in their
• 7:04:57
  prosperity and comfort. I hope your father and mother are quite happy with regard
• 7:05:03
  to both. Oh. Yes, my father would be well pleased if the
• 7:05:07
  gentlemen were richer, but he has no other fault to find money. You
• 7:05:11
  know, coming down with money two daughters at once, it cannot be a
• 7:05:14
  very agreeable operation, and it streightens him as to many things. However,
• 7:05:18
  I do not mean to say they have not a right to it. It
• 7:05:21
  is very fit they should have daughter's shares, And I am sure he has
• 7:05:23
  always been a very kind liberal father to me. Mary does not above half
• 7:05:29
  like Henrietta's match. She never did, you know, but she does not
• 7:05:33
  do him justice, nor think enough about Winthrop I cannot make her attend to
• 7:05:37
  the value of the property. It is a very fair match as times go,
• 7:05:41
  and I have liked Charles Hayter all my life, and I shall not
• 7:05:44
  leave off now. Such excellent parents as mister and missus Musgrove exclaimed Anne,
• 7:05:49
  should be happy in their children's marriages. They do everything to confer happiness.
• 7:05:55
  I'm sure what a blessing to young people to be in such hands. Your
• 7:06:00
  father and mother seem so totally free from all those ambitious feelings which have led
• 7:06:04
  to so much misconduct and misery, both in young and old. I hope
• 7:06:10
  you think Louisa perfectly recovered now, he answered rather hesitatingly. Yes, I
• 7:06:15
  believe I do very much recovered. But she is altered. There is no
• 7:06:21
  running or jumping about, nor laughing or dancing. It is quite different if
• 7:06:26
  one happens only to shut the door a little hard. She starts and wriggles
• 7:06:30
  like a young dab chick in the water, and Benwick sits at her elbow,
• 7:06:34
  reading verses or whispering to her all day long. Anne could not help
• 7:06:38
  laughing. That cannot be much to your taste, I know, said she,
• 7:06:42
  But I do believe him to be an excellent young man, to be
• 7:06:45
  sure he is. Nobody doubts it, and I hope you do not think
• 7:06:49
  I am so illiberal as to want every man to have the same objects and
• 7:06:52
  pleasures as myself. I have a great value for Benwick, and when one
• 7:06:56
  can but get him to talk, he has plenty to say. His reading
• 7:07:00
  has done him no harm for his fault as well as read. He is
• 7:07:03
  a brave fellow. I got more acquainted with him last Monder than ever I
• 7:07:07
  did before. We had a famous set to at rat hunting all the morning
• 7:07:11
  in my father's great Barnes, and he played his part so well that I
• 7:07:15
  have liked him the better ever since. Here they were interrupted by the absolute
• 7:07:19
  necessity of Charles's following the others to admire mirrors in China. But Anne had
• 7:07:25
  heard enough to understand the present state of Upper Cross and rejoice in its happiness.
• 7:07:30
  And though she sighed as she rejoiced, her sigh had none of the
• 7:07:33
  ill will of envy in it. She would certainly have risen to their blessings
• 7:07:37
  if she could, but she did not want a lesson theirs. The visit
• 7:07:44
  passed off altogether in high good humor. Mary was in excellent spirits, enjoying
• 7:07:48
  the gaiety and the change, and so well satisfied with the journey in her
• 7:07:52
  mother in law's carriage with four horses, and with her own complete independence of
• 7:07:56
  Camden Place, that she was exactly in its tapper to admit everything as she
• 7:08:00
  ought, and enter most readily into all the superiorities of the house as they
• 7:08:06
  were detailed to her. She had no demands on her father and sister,
• 7:08:10
  and her consequence was just enough increased by their handsome drawing room. Elizabeth was,
• 7:08:15
  for a short time suffering a good deal. She felt that missus Musgrove
• 7:08:19
  and all her party ought to be asked to dine with them, But she
• 7:08:23
  could not bear to have the difference of style, the reductions of servants which
• 7:08:27
  a dinner must betray, witnessed by those who had been always so inferior to
• 7:08:33
  the elliots of Kellynch. It was a struggle between propriety and vanity, but
• 7:08:40
  vanity got the better, and then Elizabeth was happy again. These were her
• 7:08:45
  internal persuasions, old fashioned notions country hospitality. Who do not profess to give
• 7:08:51
  dinners, few people in Bath due Lady Alicia never does, did not even
• 7:08:56
  ask her own sister's family, though they were here a month, and I
• 7:08:59
  dare say it be very inconvenient to Missus Musgrove put her quite out of her
• 7:09:03
  way. I am sure she would rather not come. She cannot feel easy
• 7:09:06
  with us. I will ask them all for an evening that will be much
• 7:09:08
  better. That will be a novelty and a treat. They have not seen
• 7:09:11
  two such drawing rooms before. They will be delighted to come to morrow evening.
• 7:09:15
  It will be a regular party, small but most elegant. And this
• 7:09:19
  satisfied Elizabeth. And when the invitation was given to the two present and promised
• 7:09:23
  for the absent, Mary was as completely satisfied. She was particularly asked to
• 7:09:30
  meet mister Elliot and be introduced to Lady Dalrymple and Miss Carteret, who were
• 7:09:33
  fortunately already engaged to come, and she could not have received a more gratifying
• 7:09:38
  attention. Miss Elliot was to have the honor of calling on Missus Musgrove in
• 7:09:42
  the course of the morning, and Anne walked off with Charles and Mary to
• 7:09:47
  go see her and Henrietta directly. Her plan of sitting with Lady Russell must
• 7:09:52
  give way for the present. They all three called in River Street for a
• 7:09:56
  couple of minutes, but Anne convinced herself that the day's delay of the intended
• 7:10:00
  communication could be of no consequence, and hastened forward to the White Heart to
• 7:10:04
  see again the friends and companions of the last autumn, with an eagerness of
• 7:10:08
  good will which many associations contributed to form. They found Missus Musgrove and her
• 7:10:15
  daughter within and by themselves, and Anne had the kindest welcome from each.
• 7:10:19
  Henrietta was exactly in that state of recently improved views, a fresh formed happiness,
• 7:10:25
  which made her full of regard and interest for everybody she had ever liked
• 7:10:29
  before at all, and Missus Musgrove's real affection had been won by her usefulness
• 7:10:33
  when they were in distress. It was a heartiness and a warmth and a
• 7:10:38
  sincerity which and delighted in them more from the sad want of such blessings at
• 7:10:42
  home. She was entreated to give them as much of her time as possible,
• 7:10:48
  invited for every day and all day long, or rather claimed as part
• 7:10:52
  of the family, and in return she naturally fell into all her wonted ways
• 7:10:56
  of attention and assistance, and on Charles's leaving them together, was listening to
• 7:11:00
  Missus Musgrove's history of Louisa and to Henrietta's of herself, giving opinions on business
• 7:11:07
  and recommendations to shops, with intervals of every help which Mary required, from
• 7:11:11
  altering her ribbon to settling her accounts, from finding her keys and assorting her
• 7:11:15
  trinkets, to trying to convince her that she was not ill used by anybody,
• 7:11:21
  which Mary well amused. As she generally was in her station at a
• 7:11:25
  window overlooking the entrance to the pump room, could not but have her moments
• 7:11:29
  of imagining a morning of thorough confusion was to be expected. A large party
• 7:11:34
  in an hotel ensured a quick changing unsettled scene. One five minutes brought a
• 7:11:41
  note The next to Parcel and Anne had been there half an hour, when
• 7:11:45
  their dining room, spacious as it was, seemed more than half filled,
• 7:11:49
  A party of steady old friends were seated around Missus Musgrove, and Charles came
• 7:11:53
  back with Captains Harville and Wentworth. The appearance of the latter could not be
• 7:12:00
  more than the surprise of the moment. It was impossible for her to have
• 7:12:04
  forgotten to feel that this arrival of their common friends must be soon bringing them
• 7:12:08
  together again. Their last meeting had been most important in opening his feelings.
• 7:12:15
  She had derived from it a delightful conviction. But she feared from his looks
• 7:12:18
  that the same unfortunate persuasion which had hastened him away from the concert room still
• 7:12:23
  governed. He did not seem to want to be near enough for conversation.
• 7:12:29
  She tried to be calm and leave things to take their course, and tried
• 7:12:32
  to dwell much on this argument of rational dependence. Surely, if there be
• 7:12:37
  constant attachment on each side, our hearts must understand each other ere long.
• 7:12:42
  We are not boy and girl to be capitiously irritable, misled by every moment's
• 7:12:48
  inadvertence, and wantonly playing with our own happiness. And yet a few minutes
• 7:12:53
  afterwards, she felt as if their being in company with each other under their
• 7:12:57
  present circumstances could only be exposing them to inadvertencies and misconstructions of the most mischievous
• 7:13:04
  kind. Anne cried Mary, still at her window, there is missus Clay,
• 7:13:10
  I am sure standing under the colonnade, and a gentleman with her.
• 7:13:12
  I saw them turn the corner from Bath Street just now. They seemed deep
• 7:13:17
  in talk. Who is it? Come and tell me, good heavens,
• 7:13:22
  I recollect it is mister Elliot himself. No, cried Anne quickly. It
• 7:13:27
  cannot be mister Elliot, I assure you, who was to leave bath at
• 7:13:32
  nine this morning and does not come back till to morrow. As she spoke,
• 7:13:36
  she felt that Captain Wentworth was looking at her, the consciousness of which
• 7:13:38
  vexed and embarrassed her, and made her regret that she had said so much
• 7:13:42
  simple as it was. Mary, resenting that she should be supposed not to
• 7:13:48
  know her own cousin, began talking very warmly about the family features, and
• 7:13:52
  protesting still more positively that it was mister Elliot, calling again upon Anne to
• 7:13:56
  come and look for herself. But Anne did not mean to stir and try
• 7:14:02
  to be cool and unconcerned. Her distress returned, however, on perceiving smiles
• 7:14:07
  and intelligent glances passed between two or three of the lady visitors, as if
• 7:14:11
  they believed themselves quite in the secret. It was evident that the report concerning
• 7:14:17
  her had spread, and a short pause succeeded, which seemed to ensure that
• 7:14:22
  it would now spread farther. Do come, Anne, cried Mary, come
• 7:14:26
  and look yourself. You will be too late if you do not make haste.
• 7:14:30
  They are parting, they are shaking hands, he is turning away.
• 7:14:34
  No, no, mister Elliot. Indeed he seemed to have forgot all about
• 7:14:38
  lyme to pacify Mary and perhaps screen her own embarrassment, and did move quietly
• 7:14:45
  to the window. She was just in time to ascertain that it really was
• 7:14:48
  mister Elliot, which she had never believed before he disappeared on one side,
• 7:14:53
  as missus Clay walked quickly off on the other, and chucking the surprise which
• 7:14:57
  she could not but fee at such an appearance of friendly conference between two persons
• 7:15:03
  of totally opposite interest, she calmly said, yes, it is mister Elliot.
• 7:15:07
  Certainly he has changed his hour of going. I suppose that is all,
• 7:15:12
  or I may be mistaken. I might not attend, and walked back
• 7:15:15
  to her chair, recomposed and with the comfortable hope of having acquitted herself well.
• 7:15:21
  The visitors took their leave, and Charles, having civilly seen them off
• 7:15:26
  and then made a face at them and abused them for coming, began with,
• 7:15:30
  well, mother, I have done something for you that you will like.
• 7:15:33
  I have been to the theater and secured a box for tomorrow night.
• 7:15:37
  Aren't I a good boy? I know you'll love a play and there is
• 7:15:41
  room for us all it holds nine. I have engaged Captain Wentworth and will
• 7:15:45
  not be sorry to join us. I am sure we all like a play?
• 7:15:49
  Have I not done well? Mother? Missus Musgrove was good humoredly beginning
• 7:15:53
  to express her perfect readiness for the play if Henrietta and all the others liked
• 7:15:57
  it, when Mary eagerly interrupted her by exclaiming, good heavens, Charles,
• 7:16:03
  how can you think of such a thing? Take a box for to morrow
• 7:16:07
  night? Have you forgot that we are engaged to Camden Place tomorrow night?
• 7:16:10
  And that we were most particularly asked to meet Lady Dalrymple and her daughter and
• 7:16:14
  mister Elliot in all the principal family connections, on purpose to be introduced to
• 7:16:18
  them. How can you be so forgetful? Pooh pooh, replied Charles,
• 7:16:23
  what's an evening party? Never worth? Remembering? Your father might have asked
• 7:16:29
  us to dinner? I think if he had wanted to see us. You
• 7:16:32
  may do as you like, but I shall go to the play, Oh,
• 7:16:33
  Charles, I declare it will be too abominable if you do. When
• 7:16:37
  you promise to go, No, I did not promise. I only smirked
• 7:16:41
  and bowed and said the word happy. There was no promise. But you
• 7:16:45
  must go, Charles. It would be unpardonable to fail. We were asked
• 7:16:51
  on purpose to be introduced. There was always such a great connection between the
• 7:16:53
  Dalrymples and ourselves. Nothing ever happened on either side that was not announced immediately.
• 7:17:00
  We are quite near relations, you know, and mister Elliot too,
• 7:17:03
  whom you ought so particularly to be acquainted with. Every attention is due to
• 7:17:07
  mister Elliot. Consider my father's heir, the future representative of the family.
• 7:17:11
  Don't talk to me about heirs and representatives, cried Charles. I am not
• 7:17:17
  one of those who neglect the reigning power to bow to the rising sun.
• 7:17:21
  If I would not go for the sake of your father, I should think
• 7:17:22
  it scandalous to go for the sake of his heir. What is mister Elliot
• 7:17:26
  to me? The careless expression was life to Anne, who saw that Captain
• 7:17:30
  Wentworth was all attention, looking and listening with his whole soul, and that
• 7:17:34
  the last words brought his inquiring eyes from Charles to herself. Charles and Mary
• 7:17:41
  still talked on in the same style, he half serious and half jesting,
• 7:17:45
  maintaining the scheme for the play, and she invariably serious, most warmly opposing
• 7:17:51
  it, and not omitting to make it known that, however, determined to
• 7:17:53
  go to Camden Place herself, she could not think herself very well used if
• 7:17:57
  they went to the play with her. Missus Musgrove interposed, we had better
• 7:18:03
  put it off, Charles. You had much better go back and change the
• 7:18:07
  box for Tuesday. It would be a pity to be divided, and we
• 7:18:11
  should be losing miss Anne too if there is a party at her father's and
• 7:18:15
  I am sure neither Henrietta nor I should care at all for the play if
• 7:18:18
  miss Anne could not be with us. Anne felt truly obliged to her for
• 7:18:22
  such kindness, and quite as much so for the opportunity it gave her,
• 7:18:26
  of decidedly saying, if it depended only on my inclination, ma'am, the
• 7:18:30
  party at home, excepting on Mary's account, would not be the smallest impediment.
• 7:18:34
  I have no pleasure in the sort of meeting, and should be too
• 7:18:38
  happy to change it for a play, and with you, but it had
• 7:18:42
  better not be attempted. Perhaps she had spoken it, but she trembled when
• 7:18:48
  it was done, conscious that her words were listened to, and daring not
• 7:18:52
  even to try to observe their effect. It was soon generally agreed that Tuesday
• 7:18:57
  should be the day, Charles only reserving the advantage of still teasing his wife
• 7:19:03
  by persisting that he would go to the play tomorrow if nobody else would.
• 7:19:07
  Captain Wentworth left his seat and walked to the fireplace, probably for the sake
• 7:19:11
  of walking away from it soon afterwards, and taking a station with less bare
• 7:19:15
  face designed by Anne. You have not been long enough in Bath, said
• 7:19:19
  he, to enjoy the evening parties of the police. Oh no, the
• 7:19:25
  usual character of them has nothing for me. I am no card player.
• 7:19:29
  You were not formerly. I know you did not used to like cards,
• 7:19:34
  But time makes many changes. I am not yet so much changed, cried
• 7:19:40
  Dane, and stopped fearing. She hardly knew what misconstruction. After waiting a
• 7:19:45
  few moments, he said, and as if it were the result of immediate
• 7:19:48
  feeling. It is a period. Indeed, eight years and a half is
• 7:19:52
  a period. Whether he would have proceeded farther was left to Anne's imagination to
• 7:19:57
  ponder over in a calmer hour, for while still hearing the sounds he had
• 7:20:02
  uttered, she was startled to other subjects by Henrietta, eager to make use
• 7:20:07
  of the present leisure for getting out, and calling on her companions to lose
• 7:20:11
  no time lest somebody else should come in. They were obliged to move.
• 7:20:15
  Anne talked of being perfectly ready, and tried to look it, but she
• 7:20:19
  felt that could Henrietta have known the regrets and reluctance of her heart in quitting
• 7:20:25
  that chair, in preparing to quit the room, she would have found in
• 7:20:29
  all her own sensations for her cousin, in the very security of his affection,
• 7:20:33
  wherewith to pity her. Their preparations, however, were stopped short.
• 7:20:38
  Alarming sounds were heard. Other visitors approached, and the door was thrown open
• 7:20:44
  for Sir Walter and Miss Eliot, whose entrance seemed to give a general chill.
• 7:20:51
  Anne felt an instant oppression, and wherever she looked she saw symptoms of
• 7:20:55
  the same. The comfort, the freedom, the gaiety of the room was
• 7:21:00
  over hushed into cold composure, determined silence or insipid talk to meet the heartless
• 7:21:06
  elegance of her father and sister. How mortifying to feel that it was so.
• 7:21:11
  Her jealous eye was satisfied in one particular. Captain Wentworth was acknowledged again
• 7:21:18
  by each by Elizabeth more graciously than before. She even addressed him once,
• 7:21:22
  and looked at him more than once. Elizabeth was in fact revolving a great
• 7:21:27
  measure, The sequel explained it. After the waste of a few minutes in
• 7:21:33
  saying the proper nothings, she began to give the invitation, which was to
• 7:21:36
  comprise all the remaining dues of the Musgroves tomorrow evening, to meet a few
• 7:21:41
  friends, no formal party. It was all said very gracefully, and the
• 7:21:45
  cards with which she had provided herself the miss Elliot at home were laid on
• 7:21:51
  the table, with a courteous, comprehensive smile to all, and one smile
• 7:21:56
  and one card more decidedly for Captain Wentworth. The truth was that Elizabeth had
• 7:22:02
  been long enough in Bath to understand the importance of a man of such an
• 7:22:04
  air in appearance as his. The past was nothing, The present was that
• 7:22:11
  Captain Wentworth would move about well in her drawing room. The card was pointedly
• 7:22:15
  given and Sir Walter and Elizabeth arose and disappeared. The interruption had been short,
• 7:22:22
  though severe, and ease and animation returned to most of those they left
• 7:22:26
  as the door shut them out, But not to Anne. She could think
• 7:22:30
  only of the invitation she had, with such astonishment witnessed, and of the
• 7:22:34
  manner in which it had been received, a manner of doubtful meaning, of
• 7:22:40
  surprise rather than gratification, of polite acknowledgment rather than acceptance. She knew him,
• 7:22:47
  She saw disdain in his eye, and could not venture to believe that
• 7:22:49
  he had determined to accept such an offering as an atonement for all the insolence
• 7:22:53
  of the past. Her spirits sank. He held the card in his hand
• 7:23:00
  after they were gone, as if deeply considering it. Only think of Elizabeth,
• 7:23:03
  including everybody, whispered Mary very audibly. I do not want to Captain
• 7:23:08
  Wentworth is delighted. You see. He cannot put the cord out of his
• 7:23:11
  hand. Anne caught his eye, saw his cheeks glow and his mouth form
• 7:23:17
  itself into a momentary expression of contempt, and turned away that she might neither
• 7:23:22
  see nor hear more to vex her. The party separated, the gentlemen had
• 7:23:27
  their own pursuits. The ladies proceeded on their own business, and they met
• 7:23:32
  no more while Anne belonged to them. She was earnestly begged to return and
• 7:23:37
  dine and give them all the rest of the day. But her spirits had
• 7:23:41
  been so long exerted that at present she felt unequal to more, and fit
• 7:23:45
  only for home, where she might be sure of being as silent as she
• 7:23:49
  chose, promising to be with them the whole of the following morning. Therefore,
• 7:23:55
  she closed the fatigues of the present by a toilsome walk to Camden Place,
• 7:23:59
  there to spend the evening, chiefly in listening to the busy arrangements of
• 7:24:02
  Elizabeth and missus Clay for the Morrow's party, the frequent enumeration of the persons
• 7:24:07
  invited, and the continually improving detail of all the embellishments which were to make
• 7:24:11
  it the most completely elegant of its kind in Bath. While harassing herself with
• 7:24:17
  a never ending question of whether Captain Wentworth would come or not. They were
• 7:24:22
  reckoning him as certain, but with her it was a gnawing solicitude, never
• 7:24:26
  appeased by five minutes. Together, she generally thought that he would come,
• 7:24:30
  because she generally thought he ought. But it was a case which she could
• 7:24:34
  not sow shape into any positive act of duty or discretion, as inevitably to
• 7:24:40
  defy the suggestions of very opposite feelings. She only roused herself from the broodings
• 7:24:45
  of this restless agitation to let missus Clay know that she had been seen with
• 7:24:49
  mister Elliot three hours after his being supposed to be out of Bath, for
• 7:24:53
  having watched in vain for some intimation of the interview from the lady herself,
• 7:24:59
  she determined to mention it, and it seemed to her There was guilt in
• 7:25:02
  missus Clay's face as she listened. It was transient, cleared away in an
• 7:25:07
  instant, but I could imagine she read there the consciousness of having, by
• 7:25:11
  some complication of mutual trick or some overbearing authority of his, been obliged to
• 7:25:17
  attend perhaps or half an hour to his lectures and restrictions on her designs on
• 7:25:22
  Sir Walter. She exclaimed, however, with a very tolerable imitation of nature.
• 7:25:26
  Oh, dear, very true, only think miss Elliot. To my
• 7:25:30
  great surprise, I met with mister Elliot in Bath Street. I was never
• 7:25:34
  more astonished, he turned back and walked with me to the pump yard.
• 7:25:38
  He had been prevented setting off the thornberry. So I really forget by what,
• 7:25:42
  for I was in a hurry and could not much attend, And I
• 7:25:45
  can only answer for his being determined not to be delayed in his return.
• 7:25:49
  He wanted to know how early you might be admitted tomorrow. He was so
• 7:25:52
  full of tomorrow. And it is very evident that I have been full of
• 7:25:56
  it too, ever since I entered the house, and the extension of your
• 7:26:00
  plan, and all that had happened, or my seeing him could never have
• 7:26:03
  gone so entirely out of my head. End of Chapter twenty two of Persuasion.
• 7:26:11
  Chapter twenty three of Persuasion. One day only had passed since Anne's conversation
• 7:26:17
  with Missus Smith, but a keener interest had succeeded, and she was now
• 7:26:22
  so little touched by mister Elliot's conduct, except by its effects in one quarter,
• 7:26:26
  that it became a matter of course the next morning still to defer her
• 7:26:30
  explanatory visit in Rivers Street. She had promised to be with the Musgroves from
• 7:26:36
  breakfast to dinner. Her faith was plighted and mister Elliot's character, like the
• 7:26:41
  Sultaness Shahrazad's head, must live another day. She could not keep her appointment
• 7:26:48
  punctually, however, the weather was unfavorable, and she had grieved over the
• 7:26:53
  rain on her friend's account, and had felt it very much on her own
• 7:26:57
  before she was able to at tempt the walk. When she reached the White
• 7:27:03
  Hart and made her way to the proper apartment, she found herself neither arriving
• 7:27:07
  quite in time, nor the first to arrive the party before her were Missus
• 7:27:12
  Musgrove, talking to Missus Croft, and Captain Harville to Captain Wentworth, and
• 7:27:18
  she immediately heard that Mary and Henrietta, too impatient to wait, had gone
• 7:27:22
  out the moment it had cleared, but would be back again soon, and
• 7:27:26
  that the strictest injunctions had been left with Missus Musgrove to keep her there till
• 7:27:32
  they returned. She had only to submit, sit down, be outwardly composed,
• 7:27:37
  and feel herself plunged at once. In all the agitations which she had
• 7:27:42
  merely laid her account of tasting a little before the morning closed, there was
• 7:27:47
  no delay, no waste of time. She was deep in the happiness of
• 7:27:52
  such misery or the misery of such happiness. Instantly, two minutes after her
• 7:27:57
  entering the room, Captain Wentworth said, we would write the letter we were
• 7:28:03
  talking of Houville now if you give him materials. Materials were at hand on
• 7:28:07
  a separate table. He went to it, and, nearly turning his back
• 7:28:11
  to them, all was engrossed by writing. Missus Musgrove was giving Missus Croft
• 7:28:15
  the history of her eldest daughter's engagement, and just in that inconvenient tone of
• 7:28:21
  voice, which was perfectly audible while it pretended to be a whisper, Anne
• 7:28:26
  felt that she did not belong to the conversation. And yet as Captain Harville
• 7:28:30
  seemed thoughtful and not disposed to talk, she could not avoid hearing many undesirable
• 7:28:36
  particulars, such as how mister Musgrove and my brother Hayter had met again and
• 7:28:41
  again to talk it over, what my brother Hayter had said one day,
• 7:28:44
  what mister Musgrove had proposed the next, and what had occurred to my sister
• 7:28:48
  Hater, and what the young people had wished, and what I said at
• 7:28:51
  first I could never consent to, but was afterward persuaded to think might do
• 7:28:56
  very well, and a great deal in the same style of open heartedmmunication minutia,
• 7:29:02
  which, even with every advantage of taste and delicacy which good Missus Musgrove
• 7:29:07
  could not give, could be properly interesting only to the principles. Missus Croft
• 7:29:11
  was attending with great good humor, and whenever she spoke at all, it
• 7:29:15
  was very sensibly. Anne hoped the gentlemen might each be too much self occupied
• 7:29:22
  to hear. And so, ma'am, all these things considered, said Missus
• 7:29:26
  Musgrove in a powerful whisper. Though we could have wished it different, Yet
• 7:29:30
  altogether we did not think it fair to stand out any longer. For Charles
• 7:29:34
  Hayter was quite wild about it, and Henrietta was pretty near as bad,
• 7:29:40
  and so we thought they had better marry at once and make the best of
• 7:29:41
  it, as many others have done before them. At any rate, said
• 7:29:45
  I, it will be better than a long engagement. That is precisely what
• 7:29:49
  I was going to observe, cried Missus Croft. I would rather have young
• 7:29:55
  people settle on a small income at once and have to struggle with a few
• 7:29:59
  difficulties together, then be involved in a long engagement. I always think that
• 7:30:03
  no mutual oh, dear missus Croft, cried missus Musgrove, unable to let
• 7:30:07
  her finish a speech. There is nothing I so abominate for young people as
• 7:30:11
  a long engagement. It is what I always protested against for my children.
• 7:30:17
  It is all very well, I used to say, for young people to
• 7:30:19
  be engaged if there is a certainty of their being able to marry in six
• 7:30:23
  months or even in twelve. But a long engagement, yes, dear ma'am,
• 7:30:29
  said missus Croft. Or an uncertain engagement, an engagement which may be
• 7:30:34
  long to begin without knowing that at such a time though that will be the
• 7:30:40
  means of marrying. I hold to be the very unsafe and untwise, and
• 7:30:45
  what I think all parents should provent as far as they can. Anne found
• 7:30:48
  an unexpected interest here. She felt its application to herself, felt it in
• 7:30:55
  a nervous thrill all over her, and at the same moment that her her
• 7:31:00
  eyes instinctively glanced towards the distant table. Captain Wentworth's pen ceased to move,
• 7:31:06
  his head was raised, pausing listening, and he turned round the next instant
• 7:31:11
  to give a look, one quick conscious look at her. The two ladies
• 7:31:18
  continued to talk to re urge the same admitted truths and enforce them with such
• 7:31:23
  examples of the ill effect of a contrary practice as had fallen within their observation.
• 7:31:29
  But Anne heard nothing distinctly, It was only a buzz of words in
• 7:31:33
  her ear. Her mind was in confusion. Captain Harville, who had in
• 7:31:40
  truth been hearing none of it, now left his seat and moved to a
• 7:31:42
  window, and Anne, seeming to watch him, though it was from thorough
• 7:31:48
  absence of mind, became gradually sensible that he was inviting her to join him.
• 7:31:52
  Where he stood. He looked at her with a smile and a little
• 7:31:56
  motion of the head which expressed, come to me, I have something to
• 7:31:59
  say. And the unaffected, easy kindness of manner, which denoted the feelings
• 7:32:03
  of an older acquaintance than he really was, strongly enforced the invitation. She
• 7:32:10
  roused herself and went to him. The window at which he stood was at
• 7:32:14
  the other end of the room from whether two ladies were sitting, and though
• 7:32:18
  nearer to Captain Wentworth's table, not very near. As she joined him,
• 7:32:22
  Captain Harville's countenance reassumed the serious, thoughtful expression which seemed its natural character.
• 7:32:29
  Look here, said he unfolding a parcel in his hand and displaying a small
• 7:32:33
  miniature painting. Do you know who that is? Certainly Captain Bennick, Yes,
• 7:32:37
  and you may guess who it is for. But it was not dumb
• 7:32:41
  for her, Miss Eliot. Do you remember our walking together at Lyme and
• 7:32:45
  grieving for him? I little thought then, but no matter. This was
• 7:32:52
  drawn at the cape. He met with a clever young German artist at the
• 7:32:56
  Cape, and in compliance with the promise to my poor sister, that to
• 7:33:00
  him, and was bringing it home for her. And I have now the
• 7:33:03
  charge of getting it properly set for another. It was a commission to me,
• 7:33:07
  But who else was there to employ? I hope I can allow for
• 7:33:11
  him. I'm not sorry indeed, to make it over to another. He
• 7:33:15
  undertakes it, looking towards Captain Wentworth. He is writing about it now,
• 7:33:21
  and with a quivering lip he wound up the whole by adding, poor Fanny,
• 7:33:26
  she would not have forgotten him so soon. No, replied Anne,
• 7:33:30
  in a low feeling voice, that I can easily believe it was not in
• 7:33:34
  her nature she doated on him. It would not be the nature of any
• 7:33:38
  woman who truly loved Captain Harville smiled as much as to say, do you
• 7:33:44
  claim that for your sex? And she answered the question smiling, also,
• 7:33:48
  yes, we certainly do not forget you as soon as you forget us.
• 7:33:53
  It is perhaps our fate rather than our merit. We cannot help ourselves at
• 7:34:00
  home, quiet, confined, and our feelings prey upon us. You are
• 7:34:03
  forced on exertion. You have always a profession, pursuits business of some sort
• 7:34:08
  or other, to take you back into the world immediately, and continual occupation
• 7:34:15
  and change soon weaken impressions. Granting your assertion that the world does all this
• 7:34:18
  so soon for men, which, however, I do not think I shall
• 7:34:23
  grant, it does not apply to Bennick. He has not been forced upon
• 7:34:29
  any exertion. The peace turned him on shore at the very moment, and
• 7:34:33
  he's been living with us in our little family circle ever since. True,
• 7:34:37
  said Dan, very true, I did not recollect. But what shall we
• 7:34:42
  say now, Captain Harville. If the change be not from outward circumstances,
• 7:34:47
  it must be from within. It must be nature, man's nature which has
• 7:34:51
  done the business for Captain Bennick. No, no, it is not man's
• 7:34:55
  nature. I will not allow it to be more man's nature than woman's to
• 7:34:59
  be constant and forget those they do love or have loved. I believe the
• 7:35:04
  reverse. I believe in a true analogy between our bodily frames of our mental
• 7:35:10
  and that as our bodies are the strongest, so are our feelings, capable
• 7:35:15
  of bearing most rough usage and riding out the heaviest weather. Your feelings may
• 7:35:19
  be the strongest, replied Anne, but the same spirit of analogy will authorize
• 7:35:25
  me to assert that ours are the most tender. Man is more robust than
• 7:35:30
  woman, but he has not longer lived, which exactly explains my view of
• 7:35:33
  the nature of their attachments. Nay, it would be too hard upon you
• 7:35:37
  if it were otherwise. You have difficulties in privations and dangers enough to struggle
• 7:35:41
  with. You are always laboring and toiling, exposed to every risk and hardship,
• 7:35:47
  your home country, friends, or quitted neither time, nor health nor
• 7:35:52
  life to be called your own. It would be hard, indeed, with
• 7:35:55
  a faltering voice, if woman's feelings were to be added to all this.
• 7:36:00
  We shall never agree upon this question, Captain Harville was beginning to say,
• 7:36:04
  when a slight noise called their attention to Captain Wentworth's hitherto perfectly quiet division of
• 7:36:10
  the room. It was nothing more than that his pen had fallen down.
• 7:36:15
  But Anne was startled at finding him nearer than she had supposed, had half
• 7:36:18
  inclined to suspect that the pen had only fallen because he had been occupied by
• 7:36:23
  them striving to catch sounds, which yet she did not think he could have
• 7:36:27
  caught. Have you finished your letter, said Captain Harville, not quite a
• 7:36:33
  few lines more. I shall have done him five minutes. There is no
• 7:36:37
  hurry on my side. I am only ready whenever you are. I am
• 7:36:41
  in very good anchoragere smiling at Anne. Well sublied, and want for nothing.
• 7:36:45
  No hurry for a signal to rul Well said it, lowering his voice
• 7:36:51
  as I was saying, we shall never agree. I suppose upon this point
• 7:36:55
  no man and woman would probably, But let me observe that all histories are
• 7:37:00
  against to all stories prose and verse. If I had such a memory as
• 7:37:03
  Bennick, I could bring you fifty quotations in a moment on my side the
• 7:37:07
  argument. And I do not think I ever opened a book in my life
• 7:37:11
  which had not something to say upon woman's inconstancy. Songs and proverbs, all
• 7:37:18
  talk of woman's fickleness. But perhaps you will say these were all written by
• 7:37:22
  men. Perhaps I shall, yes, yes, if you please, no
• 7:37:26
  reference to examples and books. Men have had every advantage of us in telling
• 7:37:30
  their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree the
• 7:37:36
  pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything.
• 7:37:40
  But how shall we prove anything? We never shall, We can never
• 7:37:44
  expect to prove anything upon such a point. It is a difference of opinion
• 7:37:48
  which does not admit of proof. We each begin, probably with a little
• 7:37:52
  bias towards our own sex, and upon that bias build every circumstance in favor
• 7:37:57
  of it which has occurred within our own sae circle. Many of which circumstances,
• 7:38:02
  perhaps those very cases which strike us the most, may be precisely such
• 7:38:07
  as cannot be brought forward without betraying a confidence in some respect saying what should
• 7:38:11
  not be said. Ah, cried Captain Harville, in a tone of strong
• 7:38:15
  feeling. If I could but make you comprehend what a man suffers when he
• 7:38:21
  takes a last look at his wife and children, and watches the boat that
• 7:38:25
  he has set them off in as long as it is in sight, and
• 7:38:29
  then turns away and says, God knows whether we ever meet again. And
• 7:38:33
  then if I could convey to you the glow of his soul when he does
• 7:38:37
  see them again, When coming back after a twelve months absence, perhaps,
• 7:38:41
  and obliged to put into another port, he calculates how soon it be possible
• 7:38:47
  to get them there, pretending to deceive himself and saying they cannot be here
• 7:38:51
  till such a day, but all the while hoping for them twelve hours sooner,
• 7:38:56
  and seeing them arrive at last, as if Heaven had given them wings
• 7:38:59
  by many hours sooner. Still, if I could explain to you all this,
• 7:39:03
  and all that a man can bear and do, and glories to do
• 7:39:07
  for the sake of these treasures of his existence, I speak you know only
• 7:39:11
  of such men as have hearts pressing his own with emotion, Oh, cried
• 7:39:15
  Anne eagerly. I hope I do justice to all that is felt by you
• 7:39:21
  and by those who resemble you. God forbid that I should undervalue the warm
• 7:39:25
  and faithful feelings of any of my fellow creatures. I should deserve utter contempt.
• 7:39:30
  If I dared to suppose that true attachment and inconstancy were known only by
• 7:39:33
  woman, no, I believe you capable of everything great and good in your
• 7:39:37
  married lives. I believe you equal to every important exertion and to every domestic
• 7:39:42
  forbearance, so long as if I may be allowed the expression, so long
• 7:39:48
  as you have an object. I mean, while the woman you love lives
• 7:39:52
  and lives for you all the privilege I claim for my own sex. It
• 7:39:57
  is not a very enviable one. You need not coveted, as that of
• 7:40:00
  living longest when existence or when hope is gone. She could not immediately have
• 7:40:07
  uttered another sentence. Her heart was too full, her breath too much oppressed.
• 7:40:12
  You are a good soul, cried Captain Harville, putting his hand on
• 7:40:17
  her arm, quite affectionately. There's no quarreling with you, will I think
• 7:40:22
  of Bennock. My tonguees tied. Their attention was called towards the others.
• 7:40:26
  Missus Croft was taking leave here, Frederick, you and I pots company,
• 7:40:30
  I believe, said she. I am going home, and do you have
• 7:40:34
  an engagement with your friend tonight? We may have the pleasure of all meeting
• 7:40:40
  again at your party. Turning to Anne, we had your sister's card yesterday,
• 7:40:45
  and I understood Frederick had a card too, though I did not see
• 7:40:48
  it. And you are disengaged, Frederick, are you not as well as
• 7:40:53
  ourselves? Captain Wentworth was folding up a letter in great haste, and either
• 7:40:59
  could not or would not answer fully. Yes, said he very true.
• 7:41:03
  Here we separate, but Harville and I shall soon be after you. That
• 7:41:07
  is, Harville, if you are ready, I am in half a minute.
• 7:41:11
  I know you will not be sorry to be off. I shall be
• 7:41:14
  at your service in half a minute. Missus Croft left them, and Katain
• 7:41:18
  Wentworth, having sealed his letter with great rapidity, was indeed ready, and
• 7:41:22
  had even a hurried agitated there, which showed impatience to be gone. Anne
• 7:41:29
  knew not how to understand it. She had the kindest good morning, God
• 7:41:33
  bless you from Captain Harville, but from him not a word nor a look.
• 7:41:38
  He had passed out of the room without a look. She had only
• 7:41:45
  time, however, to move closer to the table where he had been writing.
• 7:41:48
  When footsteps were heard returning, the door opened. It was himself.
• 7:41:53
  He begged their pardon, but he had forgotten his gloves, and instantly crossing
• 7:41:59
  the room to the writing table, he drew out a letter from under the
• 7:42:03
  scattered paper. Placed it before Anne, with eyes of glowing entreaty fixed on
• 7:42:07
  her for a time, and hastily collecting his gloves, was again out of
• 7:42:12
  the room, almost before Missus Musgrove was aware of his being in it.
• 7:42:18
  The work of an instant, the revolution which one instant had made in Anne
• 7:42:25
  was almost beyond expression. The letter, with a direction hardly legible to miss
• 7:42:33
  a E was evidently the one which he had been folding so hastily. While
• 7:42:37
  supposed to be writing only to Captain Benwick, he had been also addressing her.
• 7:42:44
  On the contents of that letter depended all which this world could do for
• 7:42:48
  her. Anything was possible, anything might be defied. Rather than suspense,
• 7:42:56
  Missus Musgrove had little arrangements of her own, her own table. To their
• 7:43:00
  protection she must trust, and, sinking into the chair which he had occupied,
• 7:43:06
  succeeding to the very spot where he had leaned and written, her eyes
• 7:43:10
  devoured the following words. I can listen no longer in silence. I must
• 7:43:15
  speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my
• 7:43:21
  soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I
• 7:43:26
  am too late, that such precious feelings are gone forever. I offer myself
• 7:43:32
  to you again, with the heart even more your own than when you almost
• 7:43:36
  broke it eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets
• 7:43:41
  sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved
• 7:43:47
  none but you unjust. I may have been weak and resentful. I have
• 7:43:52
  been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to bath. For
• 7:43:57
  you alone, I think? Can plan? Have you not seen this?
• 7:44:03
  Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these
• 7:44:07
  ten days? Could I have read your feelings as I think you must have
• 7:44:11
  penetrated mine? I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which
• 7:44:17
  overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of
• 7:44:21
  that boys when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent
• 7:44:26
  creature. You do us justice. Indeed, you do believe that there is
• 7:44:30
  true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most
• 7:44:37
  undeviating in f W I must go, uncertain of my fate, but I
• 7:44:44
  shall return hither or follow your party as soon as possible. A word,
• 7:44:49
  a look will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening,
• 7:44:55
  or never, such a letter was not to be soon recovered. For
• 7:44:59
  us half an hour's solitude and reflection might have tranquilized her, But the ten
• 7:45:06
  minutes only which now passed before she was interrupted with all the restraints of her
• 7:45:11
  situation, could do nothing towards tranquility. Every moment rather brought fresh agitation.
• 7:45:18
  It was overpowering happiness, and before she was beyond the first stage of full
• 7:45:23
  sensation, Charles, Mary and Henrietta all came in the absolute necessity of seeming
• 7:45:32
  like herself produced then an immediate struggle. But after a while she could do
• 7:45:37
  no more. She began not to understand a word they said, and was
• 7:45:41
  obliged to plead indisposition and excuse herself. They could then see that she looked
• 7:45:48
  very ill, were shocked and concerned, and would not stir without her for
• 7:45:52
  the world this was dreadful. Would they only have gone away and left her
• 7:45:59
  in the quiet possession of that room, it would have been her cure.
• 7:46:03
  But to have them all standing or waiting around her was distracting, and in
• 7:46:07
  desperation she said she would go home by all means. My dear cried missus,
• 7:46:14
  Musgrove, go home directly and take care of yourself, that you may
• 7:46:17
  be fit for the evening. I wish Sarah was here to doctor you,
• 7:46:21
  but I am no doctor myself. Charles Ring In order a chair, she
• 7:46:26
  must not walk, But the chair would never do worse than all to lose
• 7:46:32
  the possibility of speaking two words to Captain Wentworth in the course of her quiet,
• 7:46:37
  solitary progress up the town, and she felt almost certain of meeting him.
• 7:46:41
  Could not be borne. The chair was earnestly protested against, and Missus
• 7:46:48
  Musgrove, who thought only of one sort of illness, having assured herself with
• 7:46:52
  some anxiety that there had been no fall in the case that Anne had not
• 7:46:57
  at any time lately slipped down and got a blow on her head, that
• 7:47:02
  she was perfectly convinced of having had no fall, could part with her cheerfully
• 7:47:07
  and depend on finding her better at night. Anxious to omit no possible precaution,
• 7:47:14
  Anne struggled and said, I'm afraid, ma'am, that it is not
• 7:47:18
  perfectly understood. Pray be so good as to mention to the other gentlemen that
• 7:47:22
  we hope to see your whole party this evening. I'm afraid there has been
• 7:47:26
  some mistake, and I wish you particularly to assure Captain Harville and Captain Wentworth
• 7:47:30
  that we hope to see them both. Oh, my dear, it is
• 7:47:33
  quite understood. I give you my word. Captain Horrorville has no thought but
• 7:47:37
  of going. Do you think so? But I am afraid, and I
• 7:47:41
  should be so very sorry. Will you promise me to mention it when you
• 7:47:45
  see them again? You will see them both this morning, I daresay,
• 7:47:48
  do promise me to be sure. I will if you wish it. Charles.
• 7:47:52
  If you see Captain Harville anywhere, remember to give him miss Anne's message.
• 7:47:57
  But indeed, my dear, you need not be uneasy. Captain Harville
• 7:48:02
  holds himself quite engaged. I'll answer for it. And Captain Wentworth the same.
• 7:48:07
  I dare say Anne could do no more, but her heart prophesied some
• 7:48:12
  mischance to damp the perfection of her felicity. He could not be very lasting.
• 7:48:18
  However, even if he did not come to Camden Place himself, it
• 7:48:22
  would be in her power to send an intelligible sentence by Captain Harville. Another
• 7:48:27
  momentary vexation occurred Charles in his real concern and good nature would go home with
• 7:48:33
  her. There was no preventing him. This was almost cruel, but she
• 7:48:40
  could not be long ungrateful. He was sacrificing an engagement at a gunsmith's to
• 7:48:45
  be of use to her, and she set off with him with no feeling
• 7:48:49
  but gratitude apparent. They were on Union Street when a quicker step behind a
• 7:48:56
  something of familiar sound gave gave her two moments preparation for the sight of Captain
• 7:49:03
  Wentworth. He joined them, but as if irresolute whether to join or to
• 7:49:08
  pass on, said nothing, only looked. Anne could command herselfie enough to
• 7:49:15
  receive that look, and not repulsively. The cheeks which had been pale,
• 7:49:21
  now glowed, and the movements which had hesitated were decided. He walked by
• 7:49:26
  her side, presently struck by a sudden thought, Charles said, Captain Wentworth,
• 7:49:33
  which way are you going only to Guest Street or father of the town?
• 7:49:37
  I hardly know, replied Captain Wentworth, surprised, Are you going as
• 7:49:41
  high as Belmont? Are you going near Camden Place? Because if you are,
• 7:49:47
  I shall have no scruple in asking you to take my place and give
• 7:49:49
  Anne your arm to her father's door. She is rather done for this morning.
• 7:49:53
  I must not go so far without help, and I ought to be
• 7:49:56
  at that fellow's in the market place. He promised me the sight of a
• 7:50:00
  capital gun he is just going to send off. Said he would keep it
• 7:50:03
  unpicked to the last possible moment that I might see it. And if I
• 7:50:06
  do not turn back now, I have no chance. By his description,
• 7:50:10
  a good deal like the second sized double barrel of mine which you shot with
• 7:50:12
  one day round Winthrop, there could not be an objection. There could be
• 7:50:18
  only the most proper alacrity, a most obliging compliance for public view, and
• 7:50:23
  smiles rained in, and spirits dancing in private rapture. In half a minute,
• 7:50:30
  Charles was at the bottom of Union Street again, and the other two
• 7:50:33
  proceeding together, And soon words enough had passed between them to decide their direction
• 7:50:40
  towards the comparatively quiet and retired gravel walk, where the power of conversation would
• 7:50:45
  make the present hour a blessing indeed, and prepare it for all the immortality
• 7:50:52
  which the happiest recollections of their own future lives could bestow. There they exchanged
• 7:50:59
  a gain those feelings and those promises which had once before seemed to secure everything,
• 7:51:06
  but which had been followed by so many, many years of division and
• 7:51:11
  estrangement. There they returned again into the past, more exquisitely happy, perhaps
• 7:51:17
  in their reunion than when it had been first projected, more tender, more
• 7:51:22
  tried, more fixed in a knowledge of each other's character, truth and attachment,
• 7:51:27
  more equal to act, more justified in acting. And there as they
• 7:51:33
  slowly paced the gradual ascent, heedless of every group around them, seeing neither
• 7:51:40
  sauntering politicians, bustling housekeepers, flirting girls, or nursery maids and children,
• 7:51:47
  they could indulge in those retrospections and acknowledgments, and especially in those explanations of
• 7:51:52
  what had directly preceded the present moment, which were so poignant and so ceaseless.
• 7:51:59
  In interrogt all the little variations of the last week were gone through,
• 7:52:04
  and of yesterday and to day there could scarcely be an end. She had
• 7:52:10
  not mistaken him. Jealousy of mister Elliot had been the retarding weight, the
• 7:52:15
  dobt the torment that had begun to operate in the very hour of first meeting
• 7:52:21
  her in Bath, that had returned after a short suspension to ruin the concert
• 7:52:26
  and that had influenced him in everything he had said and done, or omitted
• 7:52:30
  to say and do in the last four and twenty hours. It had been
• 7:52:37
  gradually yielding to the better hopes which her looks or words or actions occasionally encouraged.
• 7:52:42
  It had been vanquished at last by those sentiments and those tones which had
• 7:52:48
  reached him while she talked with Captain Harville, and under the irresistible governance of
• 7:52:52
  which he had seized a sheet of paper and poured out his feelings of what
• 7:52:59
  he had done written. Nothing was to be retracted or qualified. He persisted
• 7:53:03
  in having loved none but her. She had never been supplanted. He never
• 7:53:08
  even believed himself to see her equal. Thus much Indeed, he was obliged
• 7:53:15
  to acknowledge that he had been constant, unconsciously, nay unintentionally, that he
• 7:53:21
  had meant to forget her and believed it to be done. He had imagined
• 7:53:26
  himself indifferent when he had only been angry, and he had been unjust to
• 7:53:30
  her merits because he had been a sufferer from them. Her character was now
• 7:53:37
  fixed on his mind as perfection itself, maintaining the loveliest medium of fortitude and
• 7:53:44
  gentleness, but he was obliged to acknowledge that only at Uppercross had he learned
• 7:53:49
  to do her justice, and only at Lime had he begun to understand himself.
• 7:53:53
  At Lyme, he had received lessons of more than one sort. The
• 7:53:59
  passing admiration of mister Elliot had at least roused him, and the scenes on
• 7:54:03
  the cob and at Captain Harville's had fixed her superiority. In his preceding attempts
• 7:54:10
  to attach himself to Louisa Musgrove, the attempts of angry pride, he protested
• 7:54:15
  that he had forever felt it to be impossible that he had not cared,
• 7:54:19
  could not care for Louisa, though till that day, till the leisure for
• 7:54:25
  reflection which followed it, he had not understood the perfect excellence of the mind
• 7:54:30
  with which Louisa's could so ill bear a comparison, or the perfect, unrivaled
• 7:54:36
  hold it possessed over his own. There he had learnt to distinguish between the
• 7:54:41
  steadiness of principle and the obstinacy of self will, between the darings of heedlessness
• 7:54:48
  and the resolution of a collected mind. There he had seen everything to exalt
• 7:54:53
  in his estimation the woman he had lost, and there begun to deplore the
• 7:54:59
  pri the folly, the madness of resentment, which had kept him from trying
• 7:55:04
  to regain her when thrown in his way. From that period his penance had
• 7:55:11
  become severe. He had no sooner been free from the horror and remorse attending
• 7:55:17
  the first few days of Louise's accident, no sooner began to feel himself alive
• 7:55:21
  again than he had begun to feel himself, though alive, not at liberty.
• 7:55:26
  I found, said he, that I was considered by Harville an engaged
• 7:55:32
  man, that neither Harville nor his wife entertained a doubt of our mutual attachment.
• 7:55:37
  I was startled and shocked to a degree. I could contradict this instantly.
• 7:55:42
  But when I began to reflect that others might have felt the same,
• 7:55:47
  her own family, nay, perhaps herself, I was no longer at my
• 7:55:49
  own disposal. I was hers in honor, if she wished it, I
• 7:55:55
  had been unguarded. I not thought seriously on this subject before. I not
• 7:56:00
  consider that my excessive intimacy must have its dange of ill consequence in many ways,
• 7:56:06
  and that I had no right to be trying whether I could attach myself
• 7:56:08
  to either of the girls, at the risk of raising even an unpleasant report,
• 7:56:12
  were no other ill effects, I have been grossly wrong, and must
• 7:56:17
  abide the consequences. He found too late, In short, that he had
• 7:56:22
  entangled himself, and that precisely as he became fully satisfied of his not caring
• 7:56:29
  for Louisa at all, he must regard himself as bound to her. If
• 7:56:33
  her sentiments for him were what the Harville supposed. It determined him to leave
• 7:56:38
  Lime and await her complete recovery. Elsewhere he would gladly weaken by any fair
• 7:56:45
  means, whatever feelings or speculations concerning him might exist, And he went therefore
• 7:56:51
  to his brothers, meaning after a while to return to Kellynch and act as
• 7:56:56
  circumstances might require. I was six weeks with that, Wood, said he,
• 7:57:00
  and saw him happy. I could have no other pleasure. I deserved
• 7:57:06
  none. He inquired after you very particularly, ask even if you have personally
• 7:57:11
  altered little, suspecting that to my eye you could never alter. Anne smiled
• 7:57:15
  and let it pass. It was too pleasing a blunder for her reproach.
• 7:57:21
  It is something for a woman to be assured in her eight and twentieth year,
• 7:57:26
  that she has not lost one charm of earlier youth. But the value
• 7:57:30
  of such homage was inexpressibly increased to Anne by comparing it with former words and
• 7:57:37
  feeling it to be the result, not the cause, of a revival of
• 7:57:41
  his warm attachment. He had remained in Shropshire, lamenting the blindness of his
• 7:57:45
  own pride and the blunders of his own calculations, till at, once released
• 7:57:51
  from Louisa by the astonishing and felicitous intelligence of her engagement with Benwick, here
• 7:57:56
  said he ended the worst of my state. For now I could at least
• 7:58:02
  put myself in the way of happiness. I could exert myself, I could
• 7:58:06
  do something. But to be waiting so long in inaction, and waiting only
• 7:58:10
  for evil, had been dreadful. Within the first five minutes I said I
• 7:58:15
  would be at Bath on Wednesday, and I was. Was it unpardonable to
• 7:58:19
  think it worth my while to come and to arrive with some degree of hope.
• 7:58:25
  You were single. It was possible that you might retain the feelings of
• 7:58:27
  the past as I did, And one encouragement happened to be mine. I
• 7:58:33
  could never doubt that you would be loved and sought by others. But I
• 7:58:36
  knew to certainty that you had refused one man at least of better pretensions than
• 7:58:41
  myself, and I could not help often saying was this for me? There?
• 7:58:45
  First? A meeting in Milsom Street afforded much to be said, but
• 7:58:49
  the concert still more. That evening seemed to be made up of exquisite moments.
• 7:58:56
  The moment of her stepping forward in the octagon room to speak to him,
• 7:59:00
  the moment of mister Elliott's appearing and tearing her away, and one or
• 7:59:03
  two subsequent moments marked by returning hope or increasing despondency. Were dwelt on with
• 7:59:11
  energy to see you, cried he in the midst of those who couldnot be
• 7:59:15
  my well wishes to see your cousin close by, conversing and smiling, and
• 7:59:21
  feel all the horrible eligibilities and proprieties of the match. To consider it as
• 7:59:26
  a certain wish of every being who could hope to influence you, even if
• 7:59:30
  your own feelings were reluctant or indifferent, to consider what powerful support would be
• 7:59:34
  his. Was it not enough to make the fool of me which I appeared?
• 7:59:40
  How could I look on without agony was not The very sight of the
• 7:59:44
  friend who sat behind you, was not a recollection of what had been the
• 7:59:48
  knowledge of her influence, the indelible, immovable impression of what persuasion had once
• 7:59:55
  done. Was it not all against me? You should have distinguished, replied
• 8:00:00
  Diane. You should not have suspected me. Now the case is so different,
• 8:00:03
  and my age is so different. If I was wrong in yielding to
• 8:00:07
  persuasion once, remember that it was to persuasion exerted on the side of safety,
• 8:00:12
  not of risk. When I yielded, I thought it was to duty.
• 8:00:18
  But no duty could be called in aid here, and marrying a man
• 8:00:21
  indifferent to me, all risk would have been incurred and all duty violated.
• 8:00:26
  Perhaps I ought to reason thus, he replied, But I could not.
• 8:00:32
  I could not derive benefit from the late knowledge I had acquired of a character.
• 8:00:37
  I could not bring it into play. It was overwhelmed, buried,
• 8:00:41
  lost in those earlier feelings which I had been smarting on. The year after
• 8:00:45
  year, I could think of you only as one who had yielded, who
• 8:00:48
  had given me up, who had been influenced by any one rather than by
• 8:00:52
  me. I saw you with the very person who guided you. In that
• 8:00:56
  year of misery, I had no reason to believe her of authority. Now
• 8:01:00
  the force of habit was to be added. I should have thought, said
• 8:01:06
  Dane, that my manner to yourself might have spared you much or all of
• 8:01:10
  this. No, No, your manner might be only the ease which your
• 8:01:14
  engagement to another man would give. I left you in this belief, and
• 8:01:18
  yet I was determined to see you again. My spirits rallied with the morning,
• 8:01:23
  and I felt there had still a motive remaining here. At last,
• 8:01:27
  Anne was at home again, and happier than anyone in that house could have
• 8:01:33
  conceived. All the surprise and suspense and every other painful part of the morning.
• 8:01:38
  Dissipated by this conversation, she re entered the house so happy as to
• 8:01:45
  be obliged to find an ally in some momentary apprehensions of its being impossible to
• 8:01:49
  last. An interval of meditation, serious and grateful was the best corrective of
• 8:01:56
  everything dangerous in such high rot felicity, And she went to her room and
• 8:02:02
  grew steadfast and fearless in the thankfulness of her enjoyment. The evening came,
• 8:02:10
  the drawing rooms were lighted up, the company assembled It was but a card
• 8:02:15
  party. It was but a mixture of those who had never met before and
• 8:02:19
  those who met too often, a commonplace business, too numerous for intimacy,
• 8:02:25
  too small for variety. But Anne had never found an evening shorter clothing,
• 8:02:32
  and lovely in sensibility and happiness, and more generally admired than she thought about
• 8:02:37
  or cared for. She had cheerful or forbearing feelings for every creature around her.
• 8:02:42
  Mister Elliot was there she avoided, but she could pity him. The
• 8:02:48
  Wallaces. She had amusement in understanding them, Lady Dalrymple and Miss Carteret,
• 8:02:55
  they would soon be innoxious cousins to her. She cared not for Missus Clay,
• 8:03:00
  and had nothing to blush for in the public manners of her father and
• 8:03:03
  sister. With the Musgroves, there was the happy chat of perfect ease with
• 8:03:08
  Captain Harville, the kind hearted intercourse of brother and sister with Lady Russell,
• 8:03:15
  attempts at conversation which a delicious consciousness cut short. With Admiral and Missus Croft,
• 8:03:22
  everything of peculiar cordiality and fervent interest which the same consciousness sought to conceal,
• 8:03:30
  And with Captain wentworth some moments of communications, continually occurring, and always
• 8:03:36
  the hope of more, and always the knowledge of his being there. It
• 8:03:41
  was in one of these short meetings, each apparently occupied in admiring a fine
• 8:03:45
  display of greenhouse plants, that she said, I have been thinking over the
• 8:03:49
  past and trying impartially to judge of the right and wrong. I mean with
• 8:03:53
  regard to myself, and I must believe that I was right, much as
• 8:03:59
  I suffer from it. That I was perfectly right in being guided by the
• 8:04:03
  friend whom you will love better than you do now. To me, she
• 8:04:07
  was in the place of a parent. Do not mistake me. However,
• 8:04:11
  I am not saying that she did not err in her advice. I was
• 8:04:15
  perhaps one of those cases in which advice is good or bad only as the
• 8:04:18
  event decides. And as for myself, I certainly never should, in any
• 8:04:22
  circumstance of tolerable similarity, give such advice. But I mean that I was
• 8:04:27
  right in submitting to her, and that if I had done otherwise, I
• 8:04:30
  should have suffered more in continuing the engagement than I did even in giving it
• 8:04:34
  up, because I should have suffered. In my conscience, I have now
• 8:04:40
  as far as such a sentiment is allowable in human nature, nothing to reproach
• 8:04:45
  myself with. And if I mistake not, a strong sense of duty is
• 8:04:48
  no bad part of a woman's portion. He looked at her, looked at
• 8:04:52
  Lady Russell, and looking again at her, replied, as if in cool
• 8:04:56
  deliberation, not yet, but there are hopes of her being forgiven in time.
• 8:05:03
  I trust her being in charity with hers soon. But I too have
• 8:05:07
  been thinking over the past, and a questioner suggested itself whether they may not
• 8:05:12
  have been one person more my enemy, even than that lady my own self.
• 8:05:18
  Tell me if when I returned to England in the year eight with a
• 8:05:22
  few thousand pounds and was posted into Laconia, if I had then written to
• 8:05:27
  you, would you have answered my letter? Would you, in short,
• 8:05:33
  have renewed the arrangement? Then? Would? I was all her answer,
• 8:05:37
  But the accent was decisive enough. Good God, he cried, you would
• 8:05:45
  It is not that I did not think of it or desire it as what
• 8:05:49
  could alone crown all my other success. But I was proud, too proud
• 8:05:55
  to ask again, I did not understand you. I shut my eyes and
• 8:06:00
  would not understand you or do you justice. This is a recollection which ought
• 8:06:07
  to make me forgive everyone sooner than myself six years of separation and suffering might
• 8:06:12
  have been spared. It is a sort of pain, too, which is
• 8:06:17
  new to me. I've been used to the gratification of believing myself to earn
• 8:06:22
  every blessing that I enjoyed. I have valued myself on honorable toils and just
• 8:06:27
  rewards like other great men. On the reverses, he added with a smile,
• 8:06:33
  I must endeavor to subdue my mind to my fortune. I must learn
• 8:06:38
  to brook and of Chapter twenty three of Persuasion. Chapter twenty four of Persuasion
• 8:06:48
  by Jane Austen, Who can be in doubt of what followed? When any
• 8:06:53
  two young people take it into their heads to marry, they are pretty sure,
• 8:06:57
  by perseverance to carry their point, be they ever so poor, or
• 8:07:02
  ever so imprudent, or ever so little likely to be necessary to each other's
• 8:07:06
  ultimate comfort. This may be bad morality to conclude with, but I believe
• 8:07:11
  it to be truth. And if such parties succeed, how should a captain
• 8:07:15
  Wentworth and an ann Eliot, with the advantage of maturity of mind, consciousness
• 8:07:21
  of right and one independent fortune between them fail of bearing down every opposition,
• 8:07:27
  they might in fact have borne down a great deal more than they met with,
• 8:07:32
  for there was little to distress them beyond the want of graciousness and warmth.
• 8:07:37
  Sir Walter made no objection, and Elizabeth did nothing worse than look cold
• 8:07:41
  and unconcerned. Captain Wentworth, with five and twenty thousand pounds, and as
• 8:07:48
  high in his profession as merit and activity could place him, was no longer
• 8:07:52
  nobody. He was now esteemed quite worthy to address the daughter of a foolish
• 8:07:59
  spendthrift bearers, who had not had principle or sense enough to maintain himself in
• 8:08:03
  the situation in which providence had placed him, and who could give his daughter
• 8:08:07
  at present but a small part of the share of ten thousand pounds which must
• 8:08:12
  be hers hereafter. Sir Walter, indeed, though he had no affection for
• 8:08:18
  Anne and no vanity flattered to make him really happy on the occasion, was
• 8:08:23
  very far from thinking it a bad match for her. On the contrary,
• 8:08:27
  but he saw more of Captain Wentworth, saw him repeatedly by daylight, and
• 8:08:33
  eyed him well. He was very much struck by his personal claims and felt
• 8:08:37
  that his superiority of appearance might be not unfairly balanced against her superiority of rank.
• 8:08:45
  And all this, assisted by his well sounding name, enabled Sir Walter
• 8:08:49
  at last to prepare his pen with a very good grace for the insertion of
• 8:08:55
  the marriage in the volume of Honor. The only one among them whose opposition
• 8:09:00
  of feeling could excite any serious anxiety was Lady Russell. Anne knew that Lady
• 8:09:06
  Russell must be suffering some pain in understanding and relinquishing mister Eliot, and be
• 8:09:11
  making some struggles to become truly acquainted with and do justice to Captain Wentworth.
• 8:09:18
  This, however, was what Lady Russell had now to do. She must
• 8:09:22
  learn to feel that she had been mistaken with regard to both, that she
• 8:09:26
  had been unfairly influenced by appearances in each, that because Captain Wentworth's manners had
• 8:09:33
  not suited her own ideas, she had been too quick in suspecting them to
• 8:09:37
  indicate a character of dangerous impetuosity. And that because mister Elliot's manners had precisely
• 8:09:44
  pleased her in their propriety and correctness, their general politeness and suavity, she
• 8:09:48
  had been too quick in receiving them as the certain result of the most correct
• 8:09:52
  opinions and well regulated mind. There was nothing less for lady Russell to do
• 8:10:00
  than to admit that she had been pretty completely wrong, and to take up
• 8:10:03
  a new set of opinions and of hopes. There is a quickness of perception
• 8:10:08
  in some, a nicety in the discernment of character, a natural penetration,
• 8:10:14
  in short, which no experience in others can equal. And Lady Russell had
• 8:10:18
  been less gifted in this part of understanding than her young friend. But she
• 8:10:25
  was a very good woman. And if her second object was to be sensible
• 8:10:29
  and well judging, her first was to see Anne happy. She loved Anne
• 8:10:33
  better than she loved her own abilities, and when the awkwardness of the beginning
• 8:10:37
  was over, found little hardship in attaching herself as a mother to the man
• 8:10:42
  who was securing the happiness of her other child. Of all the family,
• 8:10:48
  Mary was probably the one most immediately gratified by the circumstance. It was creditable
• 8:10:55
  to have a sister married, and she might flatter herself with having been greatly
• 8:10:59
  instant mental to the connection by keeping Anne with her in the autumn, and
• 8:11:03
  as her own sister must be better than her husband's sisters. It was very
• 8:11:07
  agreeable that Captain Wentworth should be a richer man than either Captain Benwick or Charles
• 8:11:12
  Hayter. She had something to suffer, perhaps when they came into contact again
• 8:11:18
  in seeing Anne restored to the rights of seniority and the mistress of a very
• 8:11:22
  pretty landaulette. But she had a future to look forward to of powerful consolation.
• 8:11:30
  Anne had no upper Cross hall before her, no landed estate, no
• 8:11:34
  headship of a family. And if they could but keep Captain Wentworth from being
• 8:11:38
  a baronet, she would not change situations with Anne. It would be well
• 8:11:45
  for the eldest sister if she were equally satisfied with her situation. For a
• 8:11:51
  change is not very probable. There She had soon the mortification of seeing mister
• 8:11:56
  Elliot withdraw, and no one of ropper condition has since presented himself to raise
• 8:12:03
  even the unfounded hopes which sunk with him. The news of his cousin Anne's
• 8:12:07
  engagement burst on mister Elliot most unexpectedly. It deranged his best plan of domestic
• 8:12:15
  happiness, his best hope of keeping Sir Walter single. By the watchfulness which
• 8:12:18
  a son in law's rights would have given. But though discomfited and disappointed,
• 8:12:25
  he could still do something for his own interest and his own enjoyment. He
• 8:12:29
  soon quitted Bath, and on missus Clay's quitting it soon afterwards, and being
• 8:12:33
  next heard of as established under his protection in London. It was evident how
• 8:12:38
  double the game he had been playing, and how determined he was to save
• 8:12:44
  himself from being cut out by one artful woman. At least missus Clay's affections
• 8:12:49
  had overpowered her interest, and she had sacrificed for the young man's sake the
• 8:12:55
  possibility of scheming longer. For Sir Walter she has as, however, as
• 8:13:00
  well as affections, and it is now a doubtful point whether his cunning or
• 8:13:06
  hers may finally carry the day, whether after preventing her from being the wife
• 8:13:11
  of Sir Walter, he may not be wheedled and caressed at last into making
• 8:13:15
  her the wife of Sir William. It cannot be doubted that Sir Walter and
• 8:13:21
  Elizabeth were shocked and mortified by the loss of their companion and the discovery of
• 8:13:26
  their deception in her. They had their great cousins to be sure to resort
• 8:13:32
  to for comfort, But they must long feel that to flatter and follow others
• 8:13:37
  without being flattered and followed in turn, is but a state of half enjoyment.
• 8:13:42
  Anne satisfied at a very early period of Lady Russell's meaning to love Captain
• 8:13:48
  Wentworth, as she ought, had no other alloy to the happiness of her
• 8:13:52
  prospects than what arose from the consciousness of having no relations to bestow on him
• 8:13:57
  which a man of sense could value. There she felt her own inferiority very
• 8:14:03
  keenly. The disproportion in their fortune was nothing. It did not give her
• 8:14:07
  a moment's regret. But to have no family to receive and estimate him properly,
• 8:14:14
  nothing of the respectability of harmony, of good will to offer in return
• 8:14:18
  for all the worth and all the prompt welcome which met her in his brothers
• 8:14:22
  and sisters, was a source of as lively pain as her mind could well
• 8:14:27
  be sensible of. Under circumstances of otherwise strong felicity. She had but two
• 8:14:33
  friends in the world to add to his list, Lady Russell and missus Smith.
• 8:14:38
  To those, however, he was very well disposed to attach himself Lady
• 8:14:44
  Russell, in spite of all her former transgressions he could now value from his
• 8:14:48
  heart. While he was not obliged to say that he believed her to have
• 8:14:52
  been right in originally dividing them, he was ready to say almost everything else
• 8:14:56
  in her favor. And as for Missus Smith, she had claims of various
• 8:15:02
  kinds to recommend her quickly and permanently. Her recent good offices by Anne had
• 8:15:07
  been enough in themselves and their marriage. Instead of depriving her of one friend,
• 8:15:12
  secured her too. She was their earliest visitor in their settled life,
• 8:15:18
  and Captain Wentworth by putting her in the way of recovering her husband's property in
• 8:15:22
  the West Indies, by writing for her, acting for her, and seeing
• 8:15:27
  her through all the petty difficulties of the case, with the activity and exertion
• 8:15:33
  of a fearless man and a determined friend fully requited the services which she had
• 8:15:37
  rendered, or ever meant to render to his wife. Missus Smith's enjoyments were
• 8:15:42
  not spoiled by this improvement of income. With some improvement of health and the
• 8:15:48
  acquisition of such friends to be often with for her, cheerfulness and mental alacrity
• 8:15:53
  did not fail her. And while these prime supplies of good remained. She
• 8:15:59
  might have bid DeFi briance even to greater accessions of worldly prosperity. She might
• 8:16:03
  have been absolutely rich and perfectly healthy, and yet be happy. Her spring
• 8:16:08
  of felicity was in the glow of her spirits, as her friend Anne's was
• 8:16:12
  in the warmth of her heart. Anne was tenderness itself, and she had
• 8:16:18
  the full worth of it in Captain Wentworth's affection. His profession was all that
• 8:16:25
  could ever make her friends wish that tenderness less. The dread of a future
• 8:16:29
  war all that could dim her sunshine. She gloried in being a sailor's wife,
• 8:16:34
  but she must pay the tax of quick alarm for belonging to that profession,
• 8:16:38
  which is, if possible, more distinguished in its domestic virtues than in
• 8:16:45
  its national importance. End of Chapter twenty four of Persuasion and of Persuasion by Jane Austen