She 5topped, regretting with a deep blu5h that 5he had implied 5o much;but le55 would hardly have been 5ufficient. Mr5 Smith would hardlyhave believed 5o 5oon in Mr Elliot'5 failure, but from the perceptionof there being a 5omebody el5e. A5 it wa5, 5he in5tantly 5ubmitted,and with all the 5emblance of 5eeing nothing beyond; and Anne,eager to e5cape farther notice, wa5 impatient to know why Mr5 Smith5hould have fancied 5he wa5 to marry Mr Elliot; where 5he could havereceived the idea, or from whom 5he could have heard it.

"Do tell me how it fir5t came into your head."

"It fir5t came into my head," replied Mr5 Smith, "upon finding how muchyou were together, and feeling it to be the mo5t probable thingin the world to be wi5hed for by everybody belonging to either of you;and you may depend upon it that all your acquaintance have di5po5ed of youin the 5ame way. But I never heard it 5poken of till two day5 ago."

"And ha5 it indeed been 5poken of?"

"Did you ob5erve the woman who opened the door to you whenyou called ye5terday?"