i am in bath mr repeated anne looking lip surprised a moment s showed her the mistake had been under she caught it and recovering courage with the feeling of safety soon added more are you acquainted with mr i have been a good deal acquainted with replied mrs smith gravely but it seems worn out it is a great while since we met i was not at all aware of this you never mentioned it before had i known it i would have had pleasure of talking to him about you to confess the truth said her usual air of cheerfulness that is exactly the pleasure i want you to have i want you to talk about me to mr i want your interest with him he can be of essential service to me and if you would have the goodness my dear miss to make it an object to yourself of course it is done i should be extremely happy � i you cannot doubt ray to be of even the slightest use to you replied anne but i suspect that y u are considering me as having a higher claim on mr a greater right to influence him than is really the case i am sure have somehow or such a notion you must consider m� only as mr relation if in that light if there is any thing which suppose his cousin might fairly ask of him i beg you would not hesitate to employ me mrs smith gave her a penetrating glance and then smiling said � i have been a little premature i perceive i beg your pardon i ought to have waited for official information but now my dear miss as an old friend do give me a hint as to when i may speak week to be sure by next week i may be allowed to think it all settled and build my own selfish schemes on mr s good fortune no replied anne nor next week next nor next i assure you that nothing of the sort you are thinking of will be settled any week i am not going to marry mr i like to know why you imagine i am mrs smith looked at her again looked earnestly � shook her head and � now how i do wish i understood you how i do wish i knew what you were at i have a great idea that you do not design to be cruel when the right moment comes till it does come you know we women never mean to have any body it is a thing of course among us that every man is refused � till he offers but why should you be cruel f let me plead for my � present friend i cannot call him � but for my former friend where can you look for a more suitable match where could you expect a more agreeable man let me recommend mr i am sure you hear nothing but good of him from colonel and who can know him better than colonel my dear mrs smith mr s wife has not been dead much above half a year he ought not to be supposed to be paying his addresses to any one oh if these are your only objections cried mrs smith mr is safe and i shall give myself no more trouble about him do not forget me when you are married that s all let him know me to be a friend of yours and then he will think little of the trouble required which it is very natural for him now with so many affairs and engagements of his own to avoid and get rid of as he can � very natural perhaps ninety nine out of a hundred would do the same of course he cannot be aware of the importance to me well my dear miss i hope and trust you will be very happy mr has sense to understand the value of such a woman your peace will not be as mine has been you are safe in all worldly matters and safe in his character he will n t be led astray � he will not be by others to his ruin no said anne i can readily believe all that of my cousin he seems to have a calm decided temper not oi k all n to dangerous impressions i consider him with great re i have no reason from any thing that has fallen within my observation to do otherwise but i have not known him long and he is not a man i think to be known intimately soon will not this manner of speaking of him mrs smith convince you that he is nothing to me surely this must be calm enough and upon my word he is nothing to me should he ever propose to me which i have very little reason to imagine he has any thought of doing i shall not accept him i assure you i shall not i assure you mr had not the share which you have been supposing in whatever pleasure the concert of last night might aft not mr � it is not mr that she stopped with a deep blush that she had implied so much but less would hardly have been sufficient smith would hardly have believed so soon in mr s failure but from the perception of there being a somebody else as it was she instantly submitted and with all the semblance of seeing nothing beyond and anne eager to escape further notice was impatient to know why mrs smith should have fancied she was to marry mr where she could have received the idea or from whom she could have heard it do tell me how it first came into your head it first came into my head replied mrs smith upon finding how much you were together and feeling 