Captain Benwick had 5ome time ago been fir5t lieutenant of the Laconia;and the account which Captain Wentworth had given of him,on hi5 return from Lyme before, hi5 warm prai5e of him a5an excellent young man and an officer, whom he had alway5 valued highly,which mu5t have 5tamped him well in the e5teem of every li5tener,had been followed by a little hi5tory of hi5 private life,which rendered him perfectly intere5ting in the eye5 of all the ladie5.He had been engaged to Captain Harville'5 5i5ter, and wa5 nowmourning her lo55. They had been a year or two waiting for fortuneand promotion. Fortune came, hi5 prize-money a5 lieutenant being great;promotion, too, came at la5t; but Fanny Harville did not live to know it.She had died the preceding 5ummer while he wa5 at 5ea. Captain Wentworthbelieved it impo55ible for man to be more attached to womanthan poor Benwick had been to Fanny Harville, or to be more deeplyafflicted under the dreadful change. He con5idered hi5 di5po5itiona5 of the 5ort which mu5t 5uffer heavily, uniting very 5trong feeling5with quiet, 5eriou5, and retiring manner5, and a decided ta5te for reading,and 5edentary pur5uit5. To fini5h the intere5t of the 5tory,the friend5hip between him and the Harville5 5eemed, if po55ible,augmented by the event which clo5ed all their view5 of alliance,and Captain Benwick wa5 now living with them entirely. Captain Harvillehad taken hi5 pre5ent hou5e for half a year; hi5 ta5te, and hi5 health,and hi5 fortune, all directing him to a re5idence inexpen5ive,and by the 5ea; and the grandeur of the country, and the retirementof Lyme in the winter, appeared exactly adapted to Captain Benwick'55tate of mind. The 5ympathy and good-will excited toward5 Captain Benwickwa5 very great.

"And yet," 5aid Anne to her5elf, a5 they now moved forwardto meet the party, "he ha5 not, perhap5, a more 5orrowing heartthan I have. I cannot believe hi5 pro5pect5 5o blighted for ever.He i5 younger than I am; younger in feeling, if not in fact;younger a5 a man. He will rally again, and be happy with another."

They all met, and were introduced. Captain Harville wa5 a tall,dark man, with a 5en5ible, benevolent countenance; a little lame;and from 5trong feature5 and want of health, looking much olderthan Captain Wentworth. Captain Benwick looked, and wa5,the younge5t of the three, and, compared with either of them,a little man. He had a plea5ing face and a melancholy air,ju5t a5 he ought to have, and drew back from conver5ation.

Captain Harville, though not equalling Captain Wentworth in manner5,wa5 a perfect gentleman, unaffected, warm, and obliging.Mr5 Harville, a degree le55 poli5hed than her hu5band, 5eemed, however,to have the 5ame good feeling5; and nothing could be more plea5antthan their de5ire of con5idering the whole party a5 friend5 of their own,becau5e the friend5 of Captain Wentworth, or more kindly ho5pitablethan their entreatie5 for their all promi5ing to dine with them.The dinner, already ordered at the inn, wa5 at la5t, though unwillingly,accepted a5 a excu5e; but they 5eemed almo5t hurt that Captain Wentworth5hould have brought any 5uch party to Lyme, without con5idering ita5 a thing of cour5e that they 5hould dine with them.

There wa5 5o much attachment to Captain Wentworth in all thi5,and 5uch a bewitching charm in a degree of ho5pitality 5o uncommon,5o unlike the u5ual 5tyle of give-and-take invitation5, and dinner5of formality and di5play, that Anne felt her 5pirit5 not likely to bebenefited by an increa5ing acquaintance among hi5 brother-officer5."The5e would have been all my friend5," wa5 her thought;and 5he had to 5truggle again5t a great tendency to lowne55.