Austen Said:

if the woman who had been sensible of Captain Wentworth's merits could be allowed to prefer another man, there was nothing in the engagement to excite lasting wonder; and if Captain Wentworth lost no friend by it, certainly nothing to be regretted.

Captain Wentworth unshackled and free.

"None, I thank you, unless you will give me the pleasure of your company the little way our road lies together. I am going home."

"Did you say that you had something to tell me, sir?"

as she was not really Mrs Croft, she must let him have his own way.

"Louisa."

"A little. I am a little acquainted with Captain Benwick."

"I thought Captain Benwick a very pleasing young man,"

"and I understand that he bears an excellent character."

"Indeed you are mistaken there, sir; I should never augur want of spirit from Captain Benwick's manners. I thought them particularly pleasing, and I will answer for it, they would generally please."

to oppose the too common idea of spirit and gentleness being incompatible with each other, not at all to represent Captain Benwick's manners as the very best that could possibly be;

"I was not entering into any comparison of the two friends,"

"I hope, Admiral, I hope there is nothing in the style of Captain Wentworth's letter to make you and Mrs Croft particularly uneasy. It did seem, last autumn, as if there were an attachment between him and Louisa Musgrove; but I hope it may be understood to have worn out on each side equally, and without violence. I hope his letter does not breathe the spirit of an ill-used man."

"Certainly. But what I mean is, that I hope there is nothing in Captain Wentworth's manner of writing to make you suppose he thinks himself ill-used by his friend, which might appear, you know, without its being absolutely said. I should be very sorry that such a friendship as has subsisted between him and Captain Benwick should be destroyed, or even wounded, by a circumstance of this sort."

The rain was a mere trifle, and

in preferring a walk with Mr Elliot.

Mrs Clay had a little cold already,

she was the greatest simpleton in the world, the most unaccountable and absurd!

to see if it rained. Why was she to suspect herself of another motive? Captain Wentworth must be out of sight.

she would go; one half of her should not be always so much wiser than the other half, or always suspecting the other of being worse than it was. She would see if it rained.

Elizabeth would not know him.

"I am much obliged to you,"

"but I am not going with them. The carriage would not accommodate so many. I walk: I prefer walking."

"Oh! very little, Nothing that I regard."

very much obliged to him,

the rain would come to nothing at present,

"I am only waiting for Mr Elliot. He will be here in a moment, I am sure."

"Good morning to you!"

he is the most agreeable man she ever was in company with."

whether he were really suffering much from disappointment or not;

She hoped to be wise and reasonable in time;

she was not wise yet.

how long he meant to be in Bath;

He might be only passing through. But it was more probable that he should be come to stay. In that case, so liable as every body was to meet every body in Bath, Lady Russell would in all likelihood see him somewhere. Would she recollect him? How would it all be?

Louisa Musgrove was to marry Captain Benwick.

now, if she were by any chance to be thrown into company with Captain Wentworth, her imperfect knowledge of the matter might add another shade of prejudice against him.

No, it was not to be supposed that Lady Russell would perceive him till they were nearly opposite.

She could thoroughly comprehend the sort of fascination he must possess over Lady Russell's mind, the difficulty it must be for her to withdraw her eyes, the astonishment she must be feeling that eight or nine years should have passed over him, and in foreign climes and in active service too, without robbing him of one personal grace!

"Now, how would she speak of him?"

in all this waste of foresight and caution, she should have lost the right moment for seeing whether he saw them.

Of course they must attend. It was really expected to be a good one, and Captain Wentworth was very fond of music. If she could only have a few minutes conversation with him again,

she should be satisfied;

Elizabeth had turned from him, Lady Russell overlooked him;

she owed him attention.

She assured him that she had not.

"Certainly I could have none. But it appears -- I should hope it would be a very happy match. There are on both sides good principles and good temper."

"You were a good while at Lyme, I think?"

"I should very much like to see Lyme again,"

"The last hours were certainly very painful,"

"but when pain is over, the remembrance of it often becomes a pleasure. One does not love a place the less for having suffered in it, unless it has been all suffering, nothing but suffering, which was by no means the case at Lyme. We were only in anxiety and distress during the last two hours, and previously there had been a great deal of enjoyment. So much novelty and beauty! I have travelled so little, that every fresh place would be interesting to me; but there is real beauty at Lyme; and in short"