It was a reference to the future, which Anne, after a little

observation, felt she must submit to. She could determine nothing at

present. In that house Elizabeth must be first; and she was in the

habit of such general observance as "Miss Elliot," that any

particularity of attention seemed almost impossible. Mr Elliot, too,

it must be remembered, had not been a widower seven months. A little

delay on his side might be very excusable. In fact, Anne could never

see the crape round his hat, without fearing that she was the

inexcusable one, in attributing to him such imaginations; for though

his marriage had not been very happy, still it had existed so many

years that she could not comprehend a very rapid recovery from the

awful impression of its being dissolved.

However it might end, he was without any question their pleasantest

acquaintance in Bath: she saw nobody equal to him; and it was a great

indulgence now and then to talk to him about Lyme, which he seemed to

have as lively a wish to see again, and to see more of, as herself.

They went through the particulars of their first meeting a great many

times. He gave her to understand that he had looked at her with some

earnestness. She knew it well; and she remembered another person's

look also.

They did not always think alike. His value for rank and connexion she

perceived was greater than hers. It was not merely complaisance, it

must be a liking to the cause, which made him enter warmly into her

father and sister's solicitudes on a subject which she thought unworthy

to excite them. The Bath paper one morning announced the arrival of

the Dowager Viscountess Dalrymple, and her daughter, the Honourable

Miss Carteret; and all the comfort of No. --, Camden Place, was swept

away for many days; for the Dalrymples (in Anne's opinion, most

unfortunately) were cousins of the Elliots; and the agony was how to

introduce themselves properly.

Anne had never seen her father and sister before in contact with

nobility, and she must acknowledge herself disappointed. She had hoped

better things from their high ideas of their own situation in life, and

was reduced to form a wish which she had never foreseen; a wish that

they had more pride; for "our cousins Lady Dalrymple and Miss

Carteret;" "our cousins, the Dalrymples," sounded in her ears all day

long.

Sir Walter had once been in company with the late viscount, but had

never seen any of the rest of the family; and the difficulties of the

case arose from there having been a suspension of all intercourse by

letters of ceremony, ever since the death of that said late viscount,

when, in consequence of a dangerous illness of Sir Walter's at the same

time, there had been an unlucky omission at Kellynch. No letter of

condolence had been sent to Ireland. The neglect had been visited on

the head of the sinner; for when poor Lady Elliot died herself, no

letter of condolence was received at Kellynch, and, consequently, there

was but too much reason to apprehend that the Dalrymples considered the

relationship as closed. How to have this anxious business set to

rights, and be admitted as cousins again, was the question: and it was

a question which, in a more rational manner, neither Lady Russell nor

Mr Elliot thought unimportant. "Family connexions were always worth

preserving, good company always worth seeking; Lady Dalrymple had taken

a house, for three months, in Laura Place, and would be living in

style. She had been at Bath the year before, and Lady Russell had

heard her spoken of as a charming woman. It was very desirable that

the connexion should be renewed, if it could be done, without any

compromise of propriety on the side of the Elliots."




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