he had promised that and the end of it was i found that he did not mean to come i suppose he was afraid of finding it dull but upon ray word i should have thought we were lively enough at the cottage for such a man as captain charles laughed again and said now mary you know very well how it really was it was all your doing turning to anne he fancied that if he went with he should find you close by he fancied to be living in and when he discovered that lady lived three miles off his heart faded him and he had not courage to come that is the fact upon my honour knows it is but mary did not give into it very graciously whether from not considering captain entitled by birth with an or from not want persuasion ng to believe anne a greater attraction to than herself must be left to be guessed anne s however was not to be lessened by what she heard she boldly acknowledged herself flattered and continued her oh he talks of you cried charles in such terms mary interrupted him i declare charles i never heard him mention anne twice all the time i was there i declare anne he never talks of you at all no admitted charles i do not know that he ever does in a general way but however it is a very clear thing that he you exceedingly his head is full of some books that he is reading upon your recommendation and he wants to talk to you about them he has found out something or other in one of them which he thinks � oh i cannot pretend to remember it but it was something very fine � i overheard him telling all about it and then miss was spoken of in the highest terms now mary i declare it was so i heard it myself and you were in the other room elegance sweetness beauty oh there was no end of miss s charms and i am sure cried mary warmly it was very little to his if he did miss only died last june such a heart is very little worth having is it lady i am sure you will agree with me i must see captain before i decide said lady smiling and that you are very likely to do very soon i can tell you ma am said charles though he had not nerves for coming away with us and setting off again afterwards to pay a formal visit here he will make his way over to one day by himself you may depend on it t told him the distance and the road persuasion and i told him of the church s being so very well worth seeing for as he has a taste for those sort of things i thought that would be a good excuse and he listened with all his understanding and soul and i am sure from his manner that you will have him calling here soon so i give you notice lady any acquaintance of anne s will be always welcome to me was lady s kind answer oh as to being anne s acquaintance said mary i think he is rather my acquaintance for i have been seeing him every day this last fortnight well as your joint acquaintance then i shall be very happy to see captain ben you will not find anything very agreeable in him i assure you ma am he is one of the young men that ever lived he has walked with me sometimes from one end of the sands to the other without saying a word he is not at all a well bred young man i am sure you will not like him there we differ mary said anne i think lady would like him i think she would be so much pleased with his mind that she would very soon see no deficiency in his manner so do i anne said charles i am sure lady would like him he is just lady s sort give him a book and he will read all day long that he will exclaimed mary he will sit over his book and not know when a person speaks to him or when one drops one s or anything that happens do you think lady would like that lady could not help laughing upon my word said she i should not have supposed that my opinion of any one could have admitted of such difference of conjecture steady and matter of fact as i may persuasion call myself i have really a curiosity to see the person who can give occasion to such directly opposite notions i wish he may be induced to call here and when he does mary you may depend upon hearing my opinion but i am determined not to judge him beforehand you will not like him i will answer for it lady began talking of something else mary spoke with animation of their meeting with or rather missing mr so he is a man said lady 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 with me this decision checked mary s eagerness and stopped her short in the midst of the countenance with regard to captain though anne no there was voluntary communication sufficient his spirits had been greatly recovering lately as might be expected as improved he had improved and he was now quite a creature from what he had been the week he had not seen and was so extremely fearful of any ill consequence to her from an interview that he did not press for it at all and on the contrary seemed to have a plan of going away for a week or ten days 