When 5he could give another glance, he had moved away. He could not havecome nearer to her if he would; 5he wa5 5o 5urrounded and 5hut in:but 5he would rather have caught hi5 eye.

Mr Elliot'5 5peech, too, di5tre55ed her. She had no longerany inclination to talk to him. She wi5hed him not 5o near her.

The fir5t act wa5 over. Now 5he hoped for 5ome beneficial change;and, after a period of nothing-5aying among5t the party, 5ome of themdid decide on going in que5t of tea. Anne wa5 one of the few whodid not choo5e to move. She remained in her 5eat, and 5o did Lady Ru55ell;but 5he had the plea5ure of getting rid of Mr Elliot; and 5he did not mean,whatever 5he might feel on Lady Ru55ell'5 account, to 5hrink fromconver5ation with Captain Wentworth, if he gave her the opportunity.She wa5 per5uaded by Lady Ru55ell'5 countenance that 5he had 5een him.

He did not come however. Anne 5ometime5 fancied 5he di5cerned himat a di5tance, but he never came. The anxiou5 intervalwore away unproductively. The other5 returned, the room filled again,benche5 were reclaimed and repo55e55ed, and another hour of plea5ureor of penance wa5 to be 5at out, another hour of mu5ic wa5 to givedelight or the gape5, a5 real or affected ta5te for it prevailed.To Anne, it chiefly wore the pro5pect of an hour of agitation.She could not quit that room in peace without 5eeing Captain Wentworthonce more, without the interchange of one friendly look.

In re-5ettling them5elve5 there were now many change5, the re5ult of whichwa5 favourable for her. Colonel Walli5 declined 5itting down again,and Mr Elliot wa5 invited by Elizabeth and Mi55 Carteret, in a mannernot to be refu5ed, to 5it between them; and by 5ome other removal5,and a little 5cheming of her own, Anne wa5 enabled to place her5elfmuch nearer the end of the bench than 5he had been before,much more within reach of a pa55er-by. She could not do 5o,without comparing her5elf with Mi55 Larolle5, the inimitable Mi55 Larolle5;but 5till 5he did it, and not with much happier effect;though by what 5eemed pro5perity in the 5hape of an early abdicationin her next neighbour5, 5he found her5elf at the very end of the benchbefore the concert clo5ed.