Speaker 1: Chapter twenty two of Persuasion. This is a LibriVox recording.
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Speaker 1: by Elizabeth Klett. Persuasion by Jane Austen, Chapter twenty two.
Speaker 1: Anne went home to think over all that she had heard.
Speaker 1: In one point, her feelings were relieved by this knowledge
Speaker 1: of mister Eliot. There was no longer anything of tenderness
Speaker 1: due to him. He stood as opposed to Captain Wentworth,
Speaker 1: in all his own unwelcome obtrusiveness and the evil of
Speaker 1: his attentions last night. The irremediable mischief he might have
Speaker 1: done was considered with sensations, unqualified, unperplexed. Pity for him
Speaker 1: was all over. But this was the only point of relief.
Speaker 1: In every other respect, in looking around her or penetrating forward,
Speaker 1: she saw more to distrust and to apprehend. She was
Speaker 1: discerned for the disappointment in pain. Lady Russell would be
Speaker 1: feeling for the mortification which must be hanging over her
Speaker 1: father and sister, and had all the distress of foreseeing
Speaker 1: many evils without knowing how to avert any one of them,
Speaker 1: she was most thankful for her own knowledge of him.
Speaker 1: She had never considered herself as entitled to reward for
Speaker 1: not slighting an old friend like Missus Smith. But here
Speaker 1: was a reward, indeed, springing from it. Missus Smith had
Speaker 1: been able to tell her what no one else could
Speaker 1: have done. Could the knowledge have been extended through her family?
Speaker 1: But this was a vain idea. She must talk to
Speaker 1: Lady Russell, tell her, consult with her, wait the event
Speaker 1: with as much composure as possible, And after all, her
Speaker 1: greatest want of composure would be in that quarter of
Speaker 1: the mind which could not be open to Lady Russell,
Speaker 1: in that flow of anxieties and fears which must be
Speaker 1: all to herself. She found on reaching home that she had,
Speaker 1: as she intended, escaped seeing mister Eliot. They had called
Speaker 1: and paid them a long morning visit, but hardly had
Speaker 1: She congratulated herself and felt safe when she heard that
Speaker 1: he was coming again in the evening. I had not
Speaker 1: the smallest intention of asking him, said Elizabeth, with affected carelessness.
Speaker 1: But he gave so many hints, So Missus Clay says,
Speaker 1: at least, indeed, I do say it. I never saw
Speaker 1: anybody in my life spell harder for an invitation, poor man,
Speaker 1: I was really in pain for him. For your hard
Speaker 1: hearted sister, miss Anne, seems bent on cruelty. No, cried Elizabeth,
Speaker 1: I have been rather too much used to the game
Speaker 1: to be soon overcome by a gentleman's hints. However, when
Speaker 1: I found how excessively he was regretting that he should
Speaker 1: miss my father this morning, I gave way immediately, for
Speaker 1: I would never really omit an opportunity of bringing him
Speaker 1: and Sir Walter together. They appear to so much advantage
Speaker 1: in company with each other, each behaving so pleasantly. Mister
Speaker 1: Elliot looking up with so much respect. Quite delightful, cried
Speaker 1: missus Clay, not daring, however, to turn her eyes toward
Speaker 1: towards Anne, exactly like father and son. Dear miss Eliot,
Speaker 1: may I not say father and son. No, I lay
Speaker 1: no embargo on anybody's words, if you will have such ideas,
Speaker 1: But upon my word, I am scarcely sensible of his
Speaker 1: attentions being beyond those of other men. My dear miss Eliot,
Speaker 1: exclaimed missus Clay, lifting her hands and eyes and sinking
Speaker 1: all the rest of her astonishment in a convenient silence. Well,
Speaker 1: my dear Penelope, you need not be so alarmed about him.
Speaker 1: I did invite him, you know. I sent him away
Speaker 1: with smiles. When I found he was really going to
Speaker 1: his friends at Thornbury Park for the whole day to morrow,
Speaker 1: I had compassion on him. Anne admired the good acting
Speaker 1: of the friend in being able to show such pleasure
Speaker 1: as she did in the expectation and in the actual
Speaker 1: arrival of the very person whose presence must really be
Speaker 1: interfering with her prime object. It was impossible but that
Speaker 1: missus Clay must hate the sight of mister Eliot, and
Speaker 1: yet she could assume a most obliging play said look,
Speaker 1: and appear quite satisfied with the curtailed license of devoting
Speaker 1: herself only half as much to Sir Walter as she
Speaker 1: would have done otherwise to Anne herself. It was most
Speaker 1: distressing to see mister Elliot enter the room, and quite
Speaker 1: painful to have him approach and speak to her. She
Speaker 1: had been used before to feel that he could not
Speaker 1: be always quite sincere, but now she saw insincerity in everything.
Speaker 1: His attentive deference to her father contrasted with his former
Speaker 1: language was odious, and when she thought of his cruel
Speaker 1: conduct towards missus Smith. She could hardly bear the sight
Speaker 1: of his present smiles and mildness, or the sound of
Speaker 1: his artificial good sentiments. She meant to avoid any such
Speaker 1: alteration of manners as might provoke a remonstrance on his side.
Speaker 1: It was a great object to her to escape all
Speaker 1: inquiry or a clot But it was her intention to
Speaker 1: be as decidedly cool to him as might be compatible
Speaker 1: with their relationship. Anne to retrace as quietly as she
Speaker 1: could the few steps of unnecessary intimacy she had been
Speaker 1: gradually led along. She was accordingly more guarded and more
Speaker 1: cool than she had been the night before. He wanted
Speaker 1: to animate her curiosity again as to how and where
Speaker 1: he could have heard her formerly praised. Wanted very much
Speaker 1: to be gratified by more solicitation, But the charm was broken.
Speaker 1: He found that the heat and animation of a public
Speaker 1: room was necessary to kindle his modest cousin's vanity. He
Speaker 1: found at least that it was not to be done
Speaker 1: now by any of those attempts which he could hazard.
Speaker 1: Among the two commanding claims of the others. He little
Speaker 1: surmised that it was a subject acting now exactly against
Speaker 1: his interest, bringing immediately to her thoughts all those parts
Speaker 1: of his conduct which were least excusable. She had some
Speaker 1: satisfaction in finding that he was really going out of
Speaker 1: Bath the next morning, going early, and that he would
Speaker 1: be gone the greater part of two days. He was
Speaker 1: invited again to Camden Place the very evening of his return,
Speaker 1: but from Thursday to Saturday evening his absence was certain.
Speaker 1: It was bad enough that a missus Clay should be
Speaker 1: always before her, but that a deeper hypocrite should be
Speaker 1: added to their party seemed the destruction of everything like
Speaker 1: peace and comfort. It was so humiliating to reflect on
Speaker 1: the constant deception practiced on her father and Elizabeth, to
Speaker 1: consider the various sources of mortification preparing for them. Missus
Speaker 1: Clay's selfishness was not so complicated nor so revolting as his,
Speaker 1: and Anne would have compounded for the marriage at once,
Speaker 1: with all its evils, to be clear of mister Elliot's subtleties,
Speaker 1: and endeavoring to prevent it. On Friday morning, she meant
Speaker 1: to go very early to Lady Russell and accomplish the
Speaker 1: necessary communication, and she would have gone directly after breakfast,
Speaker 1: but that missus Clay was also going out on some
Speaker 1: obliging purpose of saving her sister trouble, which determined her
Speaker 1: to wait till she might be safe from such a companion.
Speaker 1: She saw missus Clay fairly off. Therefore, before she began
Speaker 1: to talk of spending the morning in Rivers Street, very well,
Speaker 1: said Elizabeth. I have nothing to send but my love. No,
Speaker 1: you may as well take back that tiresome books she
Speaker 1: would lend me and pretend I have read it through.
Speaker 1: I really cannot be plaguing myself for ever with all
Speaker 1: the new poems and states of the Nation that come out.
Speaker 1: Lady Russell quite bores one with her new publications. You
Speaker 1: need not tell her so. But I thought her dress
Speaker 1: hideous the other night. I used to think she had
Speaker 1: some taste in dress. But I was shamed of her
Speaker 1: at the concert, something so formal and arranged in her air,
Speaker 1: And she sits so upright. My best love, of course,
Speaker 1: and mine, added Sir Walter, kindest regards. And you may
Speaker 1: say that I mean to call upon her very soon
Speaker 1: make a civil message, but I shall only leave my card.
Speaker 1: Morning visits are never fare by women at her time.
Speaker 1: Of life who make themselves up so little. If she
Speaker 1: would only wear rouge, she would not be afraid of
Speaker 1: being seen. But last time I called, I observed the
Speaker 1: blind were let down immediately. While her father spoke, there
Speaker 1: was a knock at the door. Who could it be? Anne,
Speaker 1: remembering the preconcerted visits at all hours of mister Elliot,
Speaker 1: would have expected him, but for her known engagement seven
Speaker 1: miles off. After the usual period of suspense, the usual
Speaker 1: sounds of approach were heard, and mister and Missus Charles
Speaker 1: Musgrove were ushered into the room. Surprise was the strongest
Speaker 1: emotion raised by their appearance, but Anne was really glad
Speaker 1: to see them, and the others were not so sorry,
Speaker 1: but that they could put on a decent air of welcome,
Speaker 1: And as soon as it became clear that these their
Speaker 1: nearest relations were not arrived with any views of accommodation
Speaker 1: in that house, Sir Walter and Elizabeth were able to
Speaker 1: rise in cordiality and do the honors of it very well.
Speaker 1: They were come to bath for a few days with
Speaker 1: Missus Musgrove, and were at the White Heart. So much
Speaker 1: was pretty soon understood. But till Sir Walter and Elizabeth
Speaker 1: were walking Mary into the other drawing room and regaling
Speaker 1: themselves with her admiration. Anne could not draw upon Charles's
Speaker 1: brain for a regular history of their coming, or an
Speaker 1: explanation of some smiling hints of particular business which had
Speaker 1: been ostentatiously dropped by Mary, as well as of some
Speaker 1: apparent confusion as to whom their party consisted of. She
Speaker 1: then found that it consisted of Missus Musgrove, Henrietta and
Speaker 1: Captain Harville, beside their two selves. He gave her a
Speaker 1: very plain, intelligible account of the whole, an narration in
Speaker 1: which she saw a great deal of most characteristic proceeding.
Speaker 1: The scheme had received its first impulse by Captain Harville's
Speaker 1: wanting to come to Bath on business. He had begun
Speaker 1: to talk of it a week ago, and by way
Speaker 1: of doing something as shooting was over, Charles had proposed
Speaker 1: coming with him, and Missus Harville had seemed to like
Speaker 1: the idea of it very much as an advantage to
Speaker 1: her husband, But Mary could not bear to be left,
Speaker 1: and had made herself so unhappy about it that for
Speaker 1: a day or two everything seemed to be in suspense
Speaker 1: or at an end. But then it had been taken
Speaker 1: up by his father and mother. His mother had some
Speaker 1: old friends in Bath whom she wished to see. It
Speaker 1: was thought a good opportunity for Henrietta to come and
Speaker 1: buy wedding clothes for herself and her sister, And in
Speaker 1: short it ended in being his mother's party. That everything
Speaker 1: might be comfortable and easy to Captain Harville, and he
Speaker 1: and Mary were included in it by way of general convenience.
Speaker 1: They had a arrived late the night before Missus Harville,
Speaker 1: her children, and Captain Bennock remained with mister Musgrove and
Speaker 1: Louisa at Uppercross. Anne's only surprise was that affairs should
Speaker 1: be in forwardness enough for Henriette's wedding clothes to be
Speaker 1: talked of. She had imagined such difficulties of fortune to
Speaker 1: exist there as must prevent the marriage from being near
Speaker 1: at hand. But she learned from Charles that very recently
Speaker 1: since Mary's last letter to herself, Charles Hater had been
Speaker 1: applied to by a friend to hold a living for
Speaker 1: a youth who could not possibly claim it under many years,
Speaker 1: and that on the strength of his present income, with
Speaker 1: almost a certainty of something more permanent, long before the
Speaker 1: term in question. The two families had consented to the
Speaker 1: young people's wishes, and that their marriage was likely to
Speaker 1: take place in a few months, quite as soon as Louisa's,
Speaker 1: and a very good living it was, Charles added, only
Speaker 1: five and twenty miles from up Across, and in a
Speaker 1: very fine country, fine part of Dorsetshire, in the center
Speaker 1: of some of the best preserves in the Kingdom, surrounded
Speaker 1: by three great proprietors, each more careful and jealous than
Speaker 1: the other, And to two of the three, at least
Speaker 1: Charles Hayter might get a special recommendation, not that he
Speaker 1: will value it as he ought, he observed. Charles is
Speaker 1: too cool about sporting. That's the worst of him. I
Speaker 1: am extremely glad, indeed, cried Anne, particularly glad that this
Speaker 1: should happen, And that of two sisters who both deserve
Speaker 1: equally well, and who have always been such good friends.
Speaker 1: The pleasant prospect of one should not be dimming those
Speaker 1: of the other, that they should be so equal in
Speaker 1: their prosperity and comfort. I hope your father and mother
Speaker 1: are quite happy with regard to both. Oh. Yes, my
Speaker 1: father would be well pleased if the gentlemen were richer
Speaker 1: but he has no other fault to find money, you know,
Speaker 1: coming down with money two daughters at once, it cannot
Speaker 1: be a very agreeable operation, and it straightens him as
Speaker 1: to many things. However, I do not mean to say
Speaker 1: that they have not a right to it. It is
Speaker 1: very fit that they should have daughters shares, and I
Speaker 1: am sure he has always been a very kind liberal
Speaker 1: father to me. Mary does not above half like Henrietta's match.
Speaker 1: She never did, you know, but she does not do
Speaker 1: him justice nor think enough about Winthrop. I cannot make
Speaker 1: her attend to the value of the property. It is
Speaker 1: a very fair match as times go. And I have
Speaker 1: liked Charles Hater all my life, and I shall not
Speaker 1: leave off now. Such excellent parents as mister and missus
Speaker 1: Musgrove exclaimed, Anne, should be happy in their children's marriages.
Speaker 1: They do everything to confer happiness. I am sure what
Speaker 1: a blessing to young people to be in such hands.
Speaker 1: Your father and mother seem so totally free from all
Speaker 1: those ambitious feelings which have led to so much misconduct
Speaker 1: and misery, both in young and old. I hope you
Speaker 1: think Louisa perfectly recovered now, he answered rather hesitatingly. Yes,
Speaker 1: I believe I do very much recovered, But she is altered.
Speaker 1: There is no running or jumping about, no laughing or dancing.
Speaker 1: It is quite different if one happens only to shut
Speaker 1: the door a little hard. She starts and wriggles like
Speaker 1: a young dab chick in the water, and Bennick sits
Speaker 1: at her elbow, reading verses or whispering to her all
Speaker 1: day long. Anne could not help laughing. That cannot be
Speaker 1: much to your taste, I know, said she. But I
Speaker 1: do believe him to be an excellent young man. To
Speaker 1: be sure he is. Nobody doubts it, and I hope
Speaker 1: you do not think I am so illiberal as to
Speaker 1: want every man to have the same objects and pleasures
Speaker 1: as myself. I have a great value for Bennick, and
Speaker 1: when one can but get him to talk, he has
Speaker 1: plenty to say. His reading has done him no harm,
Speaker 1: for he has fought as well as read. He is
Speaker 1: a brave fellow. I got more acquainted with him last
Speaker 1: Monday than ever I did before. We had a famous
Speaker 1: set to at rat hunting all the morning in my
Speaker 1: father's great barns, and he played his part so well
Speaker 1: that I have liked him the better ever, since here
Speaker 1: they were interrupted by the absolute necessity of Charles's following
Speaker 1: the others to admire mirrors and china. But Anne had
Speaker 1: heard enough to understand the present state of Upper Cross
Speaker 1: and to rejoice in its happiness. And though she sighed
Speaker 1: as she rejoined, her sigh had none of the ill
Speaker 1: will of envy in it. She would certainly have risen
Speaker 1: to their blessings if she could, but she did not
Speaker 1: want to lessen theirs. The visit passed off altogether in
Speaker 1: high good humor. Mary was in excellent spirits, enjoying the
Speaker 1: gaiety and the change, and so well satisfied with the
Speaker 1: journey in her mother in law's carriage with four horses,
Speaker 1: and with her own complete independence of Camden Place, that
Speaker 1: she was exactly in a temper to admire everything as
Speaker 1: she ought, and enter most readily into all the superiorities
Speaker 1: of the house as they were detailed to her. She
Speaker 1: had no demands on her father or sister, and her
Speaker 1: consequence was just enough increased by their handsome drawing rooms.
Speaker 1: Elizabeth was for a short time suffering a good deal.
Speaker 1: She felt that missus Musgrove and all her party ought
Speaker 1: to be asked to dine with them. But she could
Speaker 1: not bear to have the difference of style, the reduction
Speaker 1: of servants which a dinner must betray, witnessed by those
Speaker 1: who had been always so inferior to the elliots of Kellynch.
Speaker 1: It was a struggle between propriety and vanity, but vanity
Speaker 1: got the better, and then Elizabeth was hal These were
Speaker 1: her internal persuasions, old fashioned notions country hospitality. We do
Speaker 1: not profess to give dinners. Few people in Bath do.
Speaker 1: Lady Alicia never does. Did not even ask her own
Speaker 1: sister's family, though they were here a month, and I
Speaker 1: d fest say it would be very inconvenient to missus.
Speaker 1: Musgrove put her quite out of her way. I am
Speaker 1: sure she would rather not come. She cannot feel easy
Speaker 1: with us. I will ask them all for an evening
Speaker 1: that will be much better. That will be a novelty
Speaker 1: and a treat. They have not seen two such drawing
Speaker 1: rooms before. They will be delighted to come to morrow evening.
Speaker 1: It shall be a regular party, small but most elegant.
Speaker 1: And this satisfied Elizabeth. And when the invitation was given
Speaker 1: to the two present and promised for the absent, Mary
Speaker 1: was as completely satisfied. She was particularly asked to meet
Speaker 1: mister Elliot and be introduced to Lady Dalrymple and Miss Carteret,
Speaker 1: who were fortunately already engaged to come, and she could
Speaker 1: not have received a more gratifying attention. Miss Elliot was
Speaker 1: to have the honor of calling on Missus Musgrove in
Speaker 1: the course of the morning, and Anne walked off with
Speaker 1: Charles and Mary to go and see her, and Henrietta
Speaker 1: directly her plan of sitting with Lady Russell must give
Speaker 1: way for the present. They all three called in River
Speaker 1: Street for a couple of minutes, but Anne convinced herself
Speaker 1: that a day's delay of the intended communication could be
Speaker 1: of no consequence, and hastened forward to the White Heart
Speaker 1: to see again the friends and companions of the last autumn,
Speaker 1: with an eagerness of good will which many associations contributed
Speaker 1: to form. They found Missus Musgrove and her daughter within
Speaker 1: and by themselves, and Anne had the kindest welcome from each.
Speaker 1: Henrietta was exactly in that state of recently improved views,
Speaker 1: of fresh formed happiness, which made her full of regard
Speaker 1: and interest for everybody she had ever liked before at all,
Speaker 1: and missus Musgrove's real affection had been won by her
Speaker 1: usefulness when they were in distress. It was a heartiness
Speaker 1: and a warmth and a sincerity which Anne delighted in
Speaker 1: the more from the sad want of such blessings at home.
Speaker 1: She was entreated to give them as much of her
Speaker 1: time as possible, invited for every day and all day long,
Speaker 1: or rather claimed as part of the family, and in
Speaker 1: return she naturally fell into her wonted ways of attention
Speaker 1: and assistance, and on Charles's leaving them together, was listening
Speaker 1: to Missus Musgrove's history of Louisa and to Henrietta's of herself,
Speaker 1: giving opinions on business and recommendations to shops, with intervals
Speaker 1: of every help which Mary required, from altering her ribbon
Speaker 1: to settling her accounts, from finding her keys and assorting
Speaker 1: her trinkets, to trying to convince her that she was
Speaker 1: not ill used by anybody, which Mary well amused as
Speaker 1: she generally was. In her station at a window overlooking
Speaker 1: the entrance to the pump room, could not but have
Speaker 1: her moments of imagining a morning of thorough confusion was
Speaker 1: to be expected. A large party in an hotel enshored
Speaker 1: a quick changing, unsettled scene. One five minutes brought a note,
Speaker 1: the next a parcel, and Anne had not been there
Speaker 1: half an hour when their dining room, spacious as it was,
Speaker 1: seemed more than half filled. A party of steady old
Speaker 1: friends were seated around missus Musgrove and Charles came back
Speaker 1: with Captains Harville and Wentworth. The appearance of the latter
Speaker 1: could not be more than the surprise of the moment.
Speaker 1: It was impossible for her to have forgotten to feel
Speaker 1: that his arrival of their common friends must be soon,
Speaker 1: bringing them together again. Their last meeting had been most
Speaker 1: important in opening his feelings. She had derived from it
Speaker 1: a delightful conviction. But she feared from his looks that
Speaker 1: the same unfortunate persuasion which had hastened him away from
Speaker 1: the concert room still governed. He did not seem to
Speaker 1: want to be near enough for conversation. She tried to
Speaker 1: be calm and leave things to take their course, and
Speaker 1: tried to dwell much on the argument of rational dependence. Surely,
Speaker 1: if there be constant attachment on each side, our hearts
Speaker 1: must understand each other ere long we are not boy
Speaker 1: and girl to be captiously irritable, misled by every moments inadvertence,
Speaker 1: and wantonly playing with our own happiness. And yet a
Speaker 1: few minutes afterwards, she felt as if their being in
Speaker 1: company with each other under their present circumstances could only
Speaker 1: be exposing them to inadvertencies and miss constructions of the
Speaker 1: most mischievous kind. Anne cried Mary, still at her window.
Speaker 1: There is missus Clay, I am sure standing under the colonnade,
Speaker 1: and a gentleman with her. I saw them turn the
Speaker 1: corner from Bath Street just now. They seemed deep in talk.
Speaker 1: Who is it? Come and tell me? Good heavens, I
Speaker 1: recollect it is mister Elliot himself. No, cried Anne quickly.
Speaker 1: It cannot be mister Eliot. I assure you he was
Speaker 1: to leave Bath at nine this morning and does not
Speaker 1: come back till to morrow. As she spoke, she felt
Speaker 1: that Captain Wentworth was looking at her, the consciousness of
Speaker 1: which vexed and embarrassed her, and made her regret that
Speaker 1: she had said so much, simple as it was. Mary,
Speaker 1: resenting that she should be supposed not to know her
Speaker 1: own cousin, began talking very warmly about the family features,
Speaker 1: and protesting still more positively that it was mister Eliot,
Speaker 1: calling again upon Anne to come and look for herself.
Speaker 1: But Anne did not mean to stir and tried to
Speaker 1: be cool and unconcerned. Her distress returned, however, on perceiving
Speaker 1: smiles and intelligent glances passed between two or three of
Speaker 1: the lady visitors, as if they believed themselves quite in
Speaker 1: the secret. It was evident that the report concerning her
Speaker 1: had spread, and a short pause succeeded, which seemed to
Speaker 1: ensure that it would now spread further. Do come, Anne cried, Mary,
Speaker 1: Come and look yourself. You will be too late if
Speaker 1: you do not make haste. They are parting, they are
Speaker 1: shaking hands. He is turning away. Not know mister Eliot, indeed,
Speaker 1: you seem to have forgot all about lime. To pacify
Speaker 1: Mary and perhaps screen her own embarrassment, Anne did move
Speaker 1: quietly to the window. She was just in time to
Speaker 1: ascertain that it really was mister Eliot, which she had
Speaker 1: never believed before. He disappeared on one side, as Missus
Speaker 1: Clay walked quickly off on the other, and checking the
Speaker 1: surprise which she could not but feel at such an
Speaker 1: appearance of friendly conference between two persons of totally opposite interest.
Speaker 1: She calmly said, yes, it is mister Eliot. Certainly he
Speaker 1: has changed his hour of going. I suppose that is all,
Speaker 1: or I may be mistaken, I might not attend, and
Speaker 1: walked back to her chair, recomposed and with the comfortable
Speaker 1: hope of having acquitted herself well. The visitors took their leave,
Speaker 1: and Charles, having civilly seen them off and then made
Speaker 1: a face at them and abused them for coming, began with, well, mother,
Speaker 1: I have done something for you that you will like.
Speaker 1: I have been to the theater and secured a box
Speaker 1: for to morrow night, and I a good boy. I
Speaker 1: know you love a play, and there is room for
Speaker 1: us all it holds nine. I have engaged Captain Wentworth.
Speaker 1: Anne will not be sorry to join us. I am
Speaker 1: sure we all like a play, have not I done well? Mother?
Speaker 1: Missus Musgow was good humoredly beginning to express her perfect
Speaker 1: readiness for the play if Henrietta and all the others
Speaker 1: liked it, when Mary eagerly interrupted her by exclaiming, good heavens, Charles,
Speaker 1: how can you think of such a thing? Take a
Speaker 1: box for to morrow night? Have you forgot that we
Speaker 1: are engaged in Camden place to morrow night, and that
Speaker 1: we were most particularly asked to meet Lady Dalrymple and
Speaker 1: her daughter, and mister Eliot and all the principal family
Speaker 1: connections on purpose to be introduced to them. How can
Speaker 1: you be so forgetful? Foo fooh, replied Charles. What's an
Speaker 1: evening party? Never worth remembering? Your father might have asked
Speaker 1: us to dinner. I think if he had wanted to
Speaker 1: see us. You may do as you like, but I
Speaker 1: shall go to the play, Oh, Charles, I declare, it
Speaker 1: will be too abominable if you do. When you promised
Speaker 1: to go, no, I did not promise. I only smirked
Speaker 1: and bowed and said the word happy. There was no promise.
Speaker 1: But you must go, Charles. It would be unpardonable to fail.
Speaker 1: We were asked on purpose to be introduced. There was
Speaker 1: always such a great connection between the Dorymples and ourselves.
Speaker 1: Nothing ever happened on either side that was not announced immediately.
Speaker 1: We are quite near relations, you know, and mister Elliot too,
Speaker 1: whom you ought so particularly to be acquainted with. Every
Speaker 1: attention is due. Mister Eliot, consider my father's heir, the
Speaker 1: future representative of the family. Don't talk to me about
Speaker 1: heirs and presentatives, cried Charles. I am not one of
Speaker 1: those who neglect the reigning power to bow to the
Speaker 1: rising sun. If I would not go for the sake
Speaker 1: of your father, I should think it scandalous to go
Speaker 1: for the sake of his heir. What is mister Elliot
Speaker 1: to me? The careless expression was life to Anne, who
Speaker 1: saw that Captain Wentworth was all attention, looking and listening
Speaker 1: with his whole soul, and that the last words brought
Speaker 1: his inquiring eyes from Charles to herself. Charles and Mary
Speaker 1: still talked on in the same style, he half serious
Speaker 1: and half jesting, maintaining the scheme for the play, and
Speaker 1: she invariably serious, most warmly opposing it, and not omitting
Speaker 1: to make it known that, however determined to go to
Speaker 1: Camden Place herself, she should not think herself very well
Speaker 1: used if they went to the play without her. Missus
Speaker 1: Musgrove interposed, we had better put it off, Charles. You
Speaker 1: had much better go back and change the books for Tuesday.
Speaker 1: It would be a pity to be divided, and we
Speaker 1: should be losing miss Anne too if there is a
Speaker 1: party at her father's. And I am sure neither Henrietta,
Speaker 1: nor I should care at all for the play if
Speaker 1: miss Anne could not be with us. Anne felt truly
Speaker 1: obliged to her for such kindness, and quite as much
Speaker 1: so for the opportunity it gave her, of decidedly saying,
Speaker 1: if it depended only on my inclination, ma'am, the party
Speaker 1: at home, excepting on Mary's account, would not be the
Speaker 1: smallest impediment. I have no pleasure in the sort of meeting,
Speaker 1: and should be too happy to change it for a
Speaker 1: play and with you. But it had better not be attempted.
Speaker 1: Perhaps she had spoken it, but she trembled when it
Speaker 1: was done, conscious that her words were listened to, and
Speaker 1: daring not even to try to observe their effect. It
Speaker 1: was soon generally agreed that Tuesday should be the day,
Speaker 1: Charles only reserving the advantage of still teasing his wife
Speaker 1: by persisting that he would go to the play to
Speaker 1: morrow if nobody else would. Captain Wentworth left his seat
Speaker 1: and walked to the fireplace, probably for the sake of
Speaker 1: walking away from it soon afterwards and taking a station
Speaker 1: with less bare faced design by Anne. You have not
Speaker 1: been long enough in bath, said he to enjoy the
Speaker 1: evening parties of the place. Oh no, the usual character
Speaker 1: of them has nothing for me. I am no card player.
Speaker 1: You were not formerly. I know you did not used
Speaker 1: to like cards. But time makes many changes. I am
Speaker 1: not yet so much changed, cried Anne, and stopped fearing.
Speaker 1: She hardly knew what misconstruction. After waiting a few moments,
Speaker 1: he said, and as if it were the result of
Speaker 1: immediate feeling, it is a period. Indeed, eight years and
Speaker 1: a half is a period. Whether he would have proceeded
Speaker 1: farther was left to Anne's imagination to ponder over in
Speaker 1: a calmer hour, For while still hearing the sounds he
Speaker 1: had uttered, she was startled to other subjects by Henrietta,
Speaker 1: eager to make use of the present leisure for getting out,
Speaker 1: and calling on her companions to lose no time lest
Speaker 1: somebody else should come in. They were obliged to move.
Speaker 1: Anne talked of being perfectly ready, and tried to look it,
Speaker 1: but she felt that could Henrietta have known the regrets
Speaker 1: and reluctance of her heart in quitting that chair and
Speaker 1: preparing to quit the room, she would have found in
Speaker 1: all her own sensations for her cousin, in the very
Speaker 1: security of his affection, wherewith to pity her. Their preparations, however,
Speaker 1: were stopped short. Alarming sounds were heard. Other visitors approached,
Speaker 1: and the door was thrown open for Sir Walter and
Speaker 1: Miss Eliot, whose entrance seemed to give a general chill.
Speaker 1: Anne felt an instant oppression, and wherever she looked saw
Speaker 1: symptoms of the same. The comfort, the freedom, the gaiety
Speaker 1: of the room was over hushed into cold composure, determined
Speaker 1: silence or insipid talk to meet the heartless elegance of
Speaker 1: her father and sister. How mortifying to feel that it
Speaker 1: was so. Her jealous eye was satisfied in one particular.
Speaker 1: Captain Wentworth was acknowledged again by each by Elizabeth, more
Speaker 1: graciously than before. She even addressed him once and looked
Speaker 1: at him more than once. Elizabeth was, in fact revolving
Speaker 1: a great measure. The sequel explained it. After the waste
Speaker 1: of a few minutes in saying the proper nothings, she
Speaker 1: began to give the invitation, which was to comprise all
Speaker 1: the remaining dues of the Musgroves tomorrow evening to meet
Speaker 1: a few friends, no formal party. It was all said
Speaker 1: very gracefully, and the cards with which she had provided
Speaker 1: herself the miss Elliot at home were laid on the
Speaker 1: table with a courteous, comprehensive smile to all, and one
Speaker 1: smile and one card more decidedly for Captain Wentworth. The
Speaker 1: truth was that Elizabeth had been long enough in Bath
Speaker 1: to understand the importance of a man of such an
Speaker 1: air and appearance as his. The past was nothing, The
Speaker 1: present was that Captain Wentworth would move about well in
Speaker 1: her drawing room. The card was pointedly given, and Sir
Speaker 1: Walter and Elizabeth rose and disappeared. The interruption had been short,
Speaker 1: though severe, and ease and animation returned to most of
Speaker 1: those they left as the door shut them out, But
Speaker 1: not to Anne. She could think only of the invitation
Speaker 1: she had, with such astonishment witnessed, and of the manner
Speaker 1: in which it had been received, a manner of doubtful meaning,
Speaker 1: of supri rather than gratification, of polite acknowledgment rather than acceptance.
Speaker 1: She knew him. She saw disdain in his eye, and
Speaker 1: could not venture to believe that he had determined to
Speaker 1: accept such an offering as an atonement for all the
Speaker 1: insolence of the past. Her spirits sank. He held the
Speaker 1: card in his hand after they were gone, as if
Speaker 1: deeply considering it, only think of Elizabeth, including everybody, whispered
Speaker 1: Mary very audibly. I do not wonder Captain Wentworth as delighted.
Speaker 1: You see, he cannot put the cord out of his hand.
Speaker 1: Anne caught his eye, saw his cheeks glow and his
Speaker 1: mouth form itself into a momentary expression of contempt, and
Speaker 1: turned away that she might neither see nor hear more
Speaker 1: to vex her. The party separated. The gentlemen had their
Speaker 1: own pursuits. The ladies proceeded on their business, and they
Speaker 1: met no more. While Anne belonged to them. She was
Speaker 1: earnestly begged to return and dine and give them all
Speaker 1: the rest of the day. But her spirits had been
Speaker 1: so long exerted that at present she felt unequal to more,
Speaker 1: and fit only for home, or she might be sure
Speaker 1: of being as silent as she chose, promising to be
Speaker 1: with them the whole of the following morning. Therefore, she
Speaker 1: closed the fatigues of the present by a toilsome walk
Speaker 1: to Camden Place, there to spend the evening, chiefly in
Speaker 1: listening to the busy arrangements of Elizabeth and missus Clay
Speaker 1: for the Morrow's party, the frequent enumeration of the persons invited,
Speaker 1: and the continually improving detail of all the embellishments which
Speaker 1: were to make it the most completely elegant of its
Speaker 1: kind in Bath, while harassing herself with a never ending
Speaker 1: question of whether Captain Wentworth would come or not. They
Speaker 1: were reckoning him as certain, but with her it was
Speaker 1: annawing solicitude, never appeased for five minutes together. She generally
Speaker 1: thought he would come, because she generally thought he ought.
Speaker 1: But it was a case which she should not so
Speaker 1: shape into any positive act of duty or discretion, as
Speaker 1: inevitably to defy the suggestions of very opposite feelings. She
Speaker 1: only roused herself from the broodings of this restless agitation
Speaker 1: to let missus Clay know that she had been seen
Speaker 1: with mister Eliot three hours after his being supposed to
Speaker 1: be out of Bath. For having watched in vain for
Speaker 1: some intimation of the interview from the lady herself, she
Speaker 1: determined to mention it, and it seemed to her there
Speaker 1: was guilt in missus Clay's face as she listened. It
Speaker 1: was transient cleared away in an instant but Anne could
Speaker 1: imagine she read there the consciousness of having, by some complication,
Speaker 1: a mutual trick, or some overbearing authority of his, been
Speaker 1: obliged to attend, perhaps for half an hour, to his
Speaker 1: lectures and restrictions on her designs. On Sir Walter, she exclaimed, however,
Speaker 1: with a very tolerable imitation of nature, Oh, dear, very true,
Speaker 1: only think miss Eliot. To my great surprise, I met
Speaker 1: with mister Elliot in Bath Street. I was never more astonished.
Speaker 1: He turned back and walked with me to the pump yard.
Speaker 1: He had been prevented setting off with Thornberry. But I
Speaker 1: really forget by what, For I was in a hurry
Speaker 1: and could not much attend, And I can only answer
Speaker 1: for his being determined not to be delayed in his return.
Speaker 1: He wanted to know how early he might be admitted
Speaker 1: to morrow. He was full of to morrow. And it
Speaker 1: is very evident that I have been full of it too,
Speaker 1: ever since I entered the house and learned the extension
Speaker 1: of your plan, and all that had happened, or my
Speaker 1: seeing him could never have gone so entirely out of
Speaker 1: my head. End of Chapter twenty two