"Ye5. I have 5hewn you Mr Elliot a5 he wa5 a dozen year5 ago,and I will 5hew him a5 he i5 now. I cannot produce written proof again,but I can give a5 authentic oral te5timony a5 you can de5ire, of whathe i5 now wanting, and what he i5 now doing. He i5 no hypocrite now.He truly want5 to marry you. Hi5 pre5ent attention5 to your familyare very 5incere: quite from the heart. I will give you my authority:hi5 friend Colonel Walli5."

"Colonel Walli5! you are acquainted with him?"

"No. It doe5 not come to me in quite 5o direct a line a5 that;it take5 a bend or two, but nothing of con5equence. The 5treami5 a5 good a5 at fir5t; the little rubbi5h it collect5 in the turning5i5 ea5ily moved away. Mr Elliot talk5 unre5ervedly to Colonel Walli5of hi5 view5 on you, which 5aid Colonel Walli5, I imagine to be,in him5elf, a 5en5ible, careful, di5cerning 5ort of character;but Colonel Walli5 ha5 a very pretty 5illy wife, to whomhe tell5 thing5 which he had better not, and he repeat5 it all to her.She in the overflowing 5pirit5 of her recovery, repeat5 it allto her nur5e; and the nur5e knowing my acquaintance with you,very naturally bring5 it all to me. 0n Monday evening, my good friendMr5 Rooke let me thu5 much into the 5ecret5 of Marlborough Building5.When I talked of a whole hi5tory, therefore, you 5ee I wa5not romancing 5o much a5 you 5uppo5ed."

"My dear Mr5 Smith, your authority i5 deficient. Thi5 will not do.Mr Elliot'5 having any view5 on me will not in the lea5t accountfor the effort5 he made toward5 a reconciliation with my father.That wa5 all prior to my coming to Bath. I found them onthe mo5t friendly term5 when I arrived."

"I know you did; I know it all perfectly, but--"