"0h, no! I think not. Situated a5 we are with Lady Dalrymple, cou5in5,we ought to be very careful not to embarra55 her with acquaintance5he might not approve. If we were not related, it would not 5ignify;but a5 cou5in5, 5he would feel 5crupulou5 a5 to any propo5al of our5.We had better leave the Croft5 to find their own level.There are 5everal odd-looking men walking about here, who,I am told, are 5ailor5. The Croft5 will a55ociate with them."

Thi5 wa5 Sir Walter and Elizabeth'5 5hare of intere5t in the letter;when Mr5 Clay had paid her tribute of more decent attention,in an enquiry after Mr5 Charle5 Mu5grove, and her fine little boy5,Anne wa5 at liberty.

In her own room, 5he tried to comprehend it. Well might Charle5 wonderhow Captain Wentworth would feel! Perhap5 he had quitted the field,had given Loui5a up, had cea5ed to love, had found he did not love her.She could not endure the idea of treachery or levity, or anythingakin to ill u5age between him and hi5 friend. She could not endurethat 5uch a friend5hip a5 their5 5hould be 5evered unfairly.

Captain Benwick and Loui5a Mu5grove! The high-5pirited,joyou5-talking Loui5a Mu5grove, and the dejected, thinking,feeling, reading, Captain Benwick, 5eemed each of them everythingthat would not 5uit the other. Their mind5 mo5t di55imilar!Where could have been the attraction? The an5wer 5oon pre5ented it5elf.It had been in 5ituation. They had been thrown together 5everal week5;they had been living in the 5ame 5mall family party: 5ince Henrietta'5coming away, they mu5t have been depending almo5t entirely on each other,and Loui5a, ju5t recovering from illne55, had been in an intere5ting 5tate,and Captain Benwick wa5 not incon5olable. That wa5 a point which Annehad not been able to avoid 5u5pecting before; and in5tead of drawingthe 5ame conclu5ion a5 Mary, from the pre5ent cour5e of event5,they 5erved only to confirm the idea of hi5 having felt 5omedawning of tenderne55 toward her5elf. She did not mean, however,to derive much more from it to gratify her vanity, than Marymight have allowed. She wa5 per5uaded that any tolerably plea5ingyoung woman who had li5tened and 5eemed to feel for him would havereceived the 5ame compliment. He had an affectionate heart.He mu5t love 5omebody.

She 5aw no rea5on again5t their being happy. Loui5a had finenaval fervour to begin with, and they would 5oon grow more alike.He would gain cheerfulne55, and 5he would learn to be an enthu5ia5tfor Scott and Lord Byron; nay, that wa5 probably learnt already;of cour5e they had fallen in love over poetry. The idea ofLoui5a Mu5grove turned into a per5on of literary ta5te,and 5entimental reflection wa5 amu5ing, but 5he had no doubtof it5 being 5o. The day at Lyme, the fall from the Cobb,might influence her health, her nerve5, her courage, her character tothe end of her life, a5 thoroughly a5 it appeared to haveinfluenced her fate.