in an instant but anne could imagine she read there the consciousness of having by some of mutual trick or some authority of ms been obliged to attend to his lectures and on her designs on sir walter she exclaimed however with a very tolerable imitation of e � oh dear very true only think miss to my great surprise i met with mr in bath street i was never more astonished he turned back and walked with me to the pump yard he had been prevented setting off for but i really forget by what for i was in a hurry and could not much attend and i can only answer for being determined not to be delayed in his return he wanted to know how early he might be admitted to morrow he was full of to morrow and it is very evident that i have been of it too ever since i entered the house and learned the extension of your plan or my seeing him could never have gone so entirely out of my head chapter day only had passed since anne s with mrs smith but a interest had and die was now so little touched by mi s conduct except by its effects in one quarter it became a matter of the next morning still to her visit in s street she had promised to be with the from breakfast to dinner her faith was and mr s character like the s head must live another day she could not keep her appointment however the weather was and she had grieved over the i on her friend s account and felt it very much on her own before she was able to attempt the walk when she reached the white and made her way to the proper apartment she found herself neither arriving quite in time nor the first to arrive the party before her were mn talking to mrs and captain to captain and she immediately heard that mary and too impatient to wait and gone out the moment it had cleared but would be back again soon and that the had been left with mrs to keep her there till they returned she had only to submit and feel herself plunged at once in all the which she had merely laid her account of a l e before the closed there was no delay no waste of time she was deep in the happiness of such misery or the misery of such happiness instantly two minutes after her entering the room captain said � we will write the letter we were talking of now if you will give me materials materials were all at hand on a separate table he went to it and nearly turning his back on them all was engrossed writing persuasion mrs was giving the history of her eldest s engagement and just in that inconvenient tone of voice which was perfectly audible while it pretended to be a whisper anne felt that she did not belong to the conversation and yet as captain seemed thoughtful and not disposed to talk she could not avoid hearing many particulars such as mr and my brother had met again and again to talk it over what my brother had said one day and what mr had proposed the next and what had occurred to my sister and what the young people had wished and what i said at first i never consent to but was afterwards persuaded to think might do very well and a great deal in the same style of open hearted communication which even with every advantage of taste and delicacy could be properly interesting only to the mrs was attending with great good humour and whenever she spoke at all it was very sensibly anne hoped the gentlemen might each be too much self occupied to hear and ma am all these things considered said mrs in her powerful whisper though we could have wished it different yet altogether we did not think it fair to stand out any longer for charles was quite wild about it and was pretty near as bad and so we thought they had better marry at once and make the best of it as many have done before them at any rate said i it will be better than a long engagement that is precisely what i was going to observe cried mrs i would rather have young people settle on a small income at once and struggle with a few difficulties together than be involved in a long engagement i always think that no mutual � oh dear mrs cried mrs unable to let her finish her speech there is nothing i so as a long engagement it is what i always protested against for my children it is all very well used to say for young persuasion people to be engaged if there is a certainly of their being able to many in six months or even in twelve but a long engagement � yes dear ma am said mrs or an uncertain engagement to begin knowing that at such a time there will be the means of marrying i hold to be very and unwise and what i think all parents should prevent as far as they can anne found an unexpected interest here she felt it in its application to herself felt it in a nervous thrill all over her and at the same moment that her eyes instinctively glanced towards the distant table captain s pen ceased to move his head was raised pausing listening and he turned round the next instant to give a look one quick conscious look at her the two ladies continued to talk to re urge the same admitted truths and enforce them with such examples of the ill effect of a contrary practice as had fallen within their observation but anne heard nothing distinctly it was only a of 