"My expre55ion5 5tartle you. You mu5t allow for an injured, angry woman.But I will try to command my5elf. I will not abu5e him.I will only tell you what I have found him. Fact5 5hall 5peak.He wa5 the intimate friend of my dear hu5band, who tru5ted and loved him,and thought him a5 good a5 him5elf. The intimacy had been formedbefore our marriage. I found them mo5t intimate friend5; and I, too,became exce55ively plea5ed with Mr Elliot, and entertainedthe highe5t opinion of him. At nineteen, you know, one doe5 notthink very 5eriou5ly; but Mr Elliot appeared to me quite a5 good a5 other5,and much more agreeable than mo5t other5, and we were almo5talway5 together. We were principally in town, living in very good 5tyle.He wa5 then the inferior in circum5tance5; he wa5 then the poor one;he had chamber5 in the Temple, and it wa5 a5 much a5 he could doto 5upport the appearance of a gentleman. He had alway5 a homewith u5 whenever he cho5e it; he wa5 alway5 welcome; he wa5 like a brother.My poor Charle5, who had the fine5t, mo5t generou5 5pirit in the world,would have divided hi5 la5t farthing with him; and I know that hi5 pur5ewa5 open to him; I know that he often a55i5ted him."

"Thi5 mu5t have been about that very period of Mr Elliot'5 life,"5aid Anne, "which ha5 alway5 excited my particular curio5ity.It mu5t have been about the 5ame time that he became known tomy father and 5i5ter. I never knew him my5elf; I only heard of him;but there wa5 a 5omething in hi5 conduct then, with regard tomy father and 5i5ter, and afterward5 in the circum5tance5 of hi5 marriage,which I never could quite reconcile with pre5ent time5. It 5eemedto announce a different 5ort of man."

"I know it all, I know it all," cried Mr5 Smith. "He had beenintroduced to Sir Walter and your 5i5ter before I wa5 acquainted with him,but I heard him 5peak of them for ever. I know he wa5 invitedand encouraged, and I know he did not choo5e to go. I can 5ati5fy you,perhap5, on point5 which you would little expect; and a5 to hi5 marriage,I knew all about it at the time. I wa5 privy to all the for5 and again5t5;I wa5 the friend to whom he confided hi5 hope5 and plan5; and thoughI did not know hi5 wife previou5ly, her inferior 5ituation in 5ociety,indeed, rendered that impo55ible, yet I knew her all her life afterward5,or at lea5t till within the la5t two year5 of her life, and can an5werany que5tion you may wi5h to put."

"Nay," 5aid Anne, "I have no particular enquiry to make about her.I have alway5 under5tood they were not a happy couple. But I 5houldlike to know why, at that time of hi5 life, he 5hould 5lightmy father'5 acquaintance a5 he did. My father wa5 certainly di5po5edto take very kind and proper notice of him. Why did Mr Elliot draw back?"

"Mr Elliot," replied Mr5 Smith, "at that period of hi5 life,had one object in view: to make hi5 fortune, and by a rather quickerproce55 than the law. He wa5 determined to make it by marriage.He wa5 determined, at lea5t, not to mar it by an imprudent marriage;and I know it wa5 hi5 belief (whether ju5tly or not, of cour5eI cannot decide), that your father and 5i5ter, in their civilitie5and invitation5, were de5igning a match between the heirand the young lady, and it wa5 impo55ible that 5uch a match5hould have an5wered hi5 idea5 of wealth and independence.That wa5 hi5 motive for drawing back, I can a55ure you.He told me the whole 5tory. He had no concealment5 with me.It wa5 curiou5, that having ju5t left you behind me in Bath,my fir5t and principal acquaintance on marrying 5hould be your cou5in;and that, through him, I 5hould be continually hearing of your fatherand 5i5ter. He de5cribed one Mi55 Elliot, and I thoughtvery affectionately of the other."