Austen Said:

"whom I have no wish to see. His declining to be on cordial terms with the head of his family, has left a very strong impression in his disfavour with me."

she might see him or hear of him.

to be unworthy of the interest which he had been beginning to excite.

Uppercross was already quite alive again. Though neither Henrietta, nor Louisa, nor Charles Hayter, nor Captain Wentworth were there, the room presented as strong a contrast as could be wished to the last state she had seen it in.

after all she had gone through, nothing was so likely to do her good as a little quiet cheerfulness at home.

Louisa was now recovering apace. Her mother could even think of her being able to join their party at home, before her brothers and sisters went to school again. The Harvilles had promised to come with her and stay at Uppercross, whenever she returned. Captain Wentworth was gone, for the present, to see his brother in Shropshire.

"I hope I shall remember, in future,"

"not to call at Uppercross in the Christmas holidays."

nothing could be so good for her as a little quiet cheerfulness.

for who would be glad to see her when she arrived?

Mr Elliot was in Bath. He had called in Camden Place; had called a second time, a third; had been pointedly attentive. If Elizabeth and her father did not deceive themselves, had been taking much pains to seek the acquaintance, and proclaim the value of the connection, as he had formerly taken pains to shew neglect.

"a man whom she had no wish to see."

She had a great wish to see him. If he really sought to reconcile himself like a dutiful branch, he must be forgiven for having dismembered himself from the paternal tree.

she would rather see Mr Elliot again than not, which was more than she could say for many other persons in Bath.

"Oh! when shall I leave you again?"

she would pretend what was proper on her arrival,

her father should feel no degradation in his change, should see nothing to regret in the duties and dignity of the resident landholder, should find so much to be vain of in the littlenesses of a town;

it be a great extenuation.

Allowances, large allowances,

must be made for the ideas of those who spoke. She heard it all under embellishment. All that sounded extravagant or irrational in the progress of the reconciliation might have no origin but in the language of the relators.

there being something more than immediately appeared, in Mr Elliot's wishing, after an interval of so many years, to be well received by them.

In a worldly view, he had nothing to gain by being on terms with Sir Walter; nothing to risk by a state of variance. In all probability he was already the richer of the two, and the Kellynch estate would as surely be his hereafter as the title. A sensible man, and he had looked like a very sensible man, why should it be an object to him? She could only offer one solution; it was, perhaps, for Elizabeth's sake. There might really have been a liking formerly, though convenience and accident had drawn him a different way; and now that he could afford to please himself, he might mean to pay his addresses to her. Elizabeth was certainly very handsome, with well-bred, elegant manners, and her character might never have been penetrated by Mr Elliot, knowing her but in public, and when very young himself. How her temper and understanding might bear the investigation of his present keener time of life was another concern and rather a fearful one.

he might not be too nice, or too observant if Elizabeth were his object;

Colonel Wallis's companion might have as good a figure as Colonel Wallis, and certainly was not sandy-haired.

"Oh! no, that must have been quite accidental. In general she has been in very good health and very good looks since Michaelmas."

she should venture to suggest that a gown, or a cap, would not be liable to any such misuse,

Mrs Clay decidedly thought it Mr Elliot's knock."

He was quite as good-looking as he had appeared at Lyme, his countenance improved by speaking, and his manners were so exactly what they ought to be, so polished, so easy, so particularly agreeable, that she could compare them in excellence to only one person's manners. They were not the same, but they were, perhaps, equally good.

His enquiries, however, produced at length an account of the scene she had been engaged in there, soon after his leaving the place.

"an accident,"

Mr Elliot to Lady Russell, in the wish of really comprehending what had passed, and in the degree of concern for what she must have suffered in witnessing it.

He staid an hour with them. The elegant little clock on the mantel-piece had struck "eleven with its silver sounds," and the watchman was beginning to be heard at a distance telling the same tale, before Mr Elliot or any of them seemed to feel that he had been there long.

her first evening in Camden Place could have passed so well!

there had just been a decent pretence on the lady's side of meaning to leave them.

Mrs Clay to have said,

"now Miss Anne was come, she could not suppose herself at all wanted;"

"That must not be any reason, indeed. I assure you I feel it none. She is nothing to me, compared with you;"

"No, nothing."

"No, nothing at all."

If Elizabeth could but have heard this!

Such personal praise might have struck her,

But everything must take its chance. The evil of a marriage would be much diminished, if Elizabeth were also to marry. As for herself, she might always command a home with Lady Russell.

the solid so fully supporting the superficial,

almost ready to exclaim, "Can this be Mr Elliot?"

could not seriously picture to herself a more agreeable or estimable man. Everything united in him; good understanding, correct opinions, knowledge of the world, and a warm heart. He had strong feelings of family attachment and family honour, without pride or weakness; he lived with the liberality of a man of fortune, without display; he judged for himself in everything essential, without defying public opinion in any point of worldly decorum. He was steady, observant, moderate, candid; never run away with by spirits or by selfishness, which fancied itself strong feeling; and yet, with a sensibility to what was amiable and lovely, and a value for all the felicities of domestic life, which characters of fancied enthusiasm and violent agitation seldom really possess.

he had not been happy in marriage.

but it had been no unhappiness to sour his mind, nor

to prevent his thinking of a second choice.

Lady Russell should see nothing suspicious or inconsistent, nothing to require more motives than appeared, in Mr Elliot's great desire of a reconciliation.

it was perfectly natural that Mr Elliot, at a mature time of life, should feel it a most desirable object, and what would very generally recommend him among all sensible people, to be on good terms with the head of his family; the simplest process in the world of time upon a head naturally clear, and only erring in the heyday of youth.