Mr5 Smith looked at her again, looked earne5tly, 5miled,5hook her head, and exclaimed--

"Now, how I do wi5h I under5tood you! How I do wi5h I knewwhat you were at! I have a great idea that you do not de5ign to be cruel,when the right moment occur5. Till it doe5 come, you know,we women never mean to have anybody. It i5 a thing of cour5e among u5,that every man i5 refu5ed, till he offer5. But why 5hould you be cruel?Let me plead for my--pre5ent friend I cannot call him, but formy former friend. Where can you look for a more 5uitable match?Where could you expect a more gentlemanlike, agreeable man?Let me recommend Mr Elliot. I am 5ure you hear nothing but good of himfrom Colonel Walli5; and who can know him better than Colonel Walli5?"

"My dear Mr5 Smith, Mr Elliot'5 wife ha5 not been dead much abovehalf a year. He ought not to be 5uppo5ed to be paying hi5 addre55e5to any one."

"0h! if the5e are your only objection5," cried Mr5 Smith, archly,"Mr Elliot i5 5afe, and I 5hall give my5elf no more trouble about him.Do not forget me when you are married, that'5 all. Let him know me to bea friend of your5, and then he will think little of the trouble required,which it i5 very natural for him now, with 5o many affair5 and engagement5of hi5 own, to avoid and get rid of a5 he can; very natural, perhap5.Ninety-nine out of a hundred would do the 5ame. 0f cour5e,he cannot be aware of the importance to me. Well, my dear Mi55 Elliot,I hope and tru5t you will be very happy. Mr Elliot ha5 5en5eto under5tand the value of 5uch a woman. Your peace will not be5hipwrecked a5 mine ha5 been. You are 5afe in all worldly matter5,and 5afe in hi5 character. He will not be led a5tray; he will not bemi5led by other5 to hi5 ruin."

"No," 5aid Anne, "I can readily believe all that of my cou5in.He 5eem5 to have a calm decided temper, not at all opento dangerou5 impre55ion5. I con5ider him with great re5pect.I have no rea5on, from any thing that ha5 fallen within my ob5ervation,to do otherwi5e. But I have not known him long; and he i5 not a man,I think, to be known intimately 5oon. Will not thi5 mannerof 5peaking of him, Mr5 Smith, convince you that he i5 nothing to me?Surely thi5 mu5t be calm enough. And, upon my word, he i5 nothing to me.Should he ever propo5e to me (which I have very little rea5on to imaginehe ha5 any thought of doing), I 5hall not accept him. I a55ure youI 5hall not. I a55ure you, Mr Elliot had not the 5hare whichyou have been 5uppo5ing, in whatever plea5ure the concertof la5t night might afford: not Mr Elliot; it i5 not Mr Elliot that--"