"Westgate Buildings!" said he, "and who is Miss Anne Elliot to be

visiting in Westgate Buildings? A Mrs Smith. A widow Mrs Smith; and

who was her husband? One of five thousand Mr Smiths whose names are to

be met with everywhere. And what is her attraction? That she is old

and sickly. Upon my word, Miss Anne Elliot, you have the most

extraordinary taste! Everything that revolts other people, low

company, paltry rooms, foul air, disgusting associations are inviting

to you. But surely you may put off this old lady till to-morrow: she

is not so near her end, I presume, but that she may hope to see another

day. What is her age? Forty?"

"No, sir, she is not one-and-thirty; but I do not think I can put off

my engagement, because it is the only evening for some time which will

at once suit her and myself. She goes into the warm bath to-morrow,

and for the rest of the week, you know, we are engaged."

"But what does Lady Russell think of this acquaintance?" asked

Elizabeth.

"She sees nothing to blame in it," replied Anne; "on the contrary, she

approves it, and has generally taken me when I have called on Mrs

Smith."

"Westgate Buildings must have been rather surprised by the appearance

of a carriage drawn up near its pavement," observed Sir Walter. "Sir

Henry Russell's widow, indeed, has no honours to distinguish her arms,

but still it is a handsome equipage, and no doubt is well known to

convey a Miss Elliot. A widow Mrs Smith lodging in Westgate Buildings!

A poor widow barely able to live, between thirty and forty; a mere Mrs

Smith, an every-day Mrs Smith, of all people and all names in the

world, to be the chosen friend of Miss Anne Elliot, and to be preferred

by her to her own family connections among the nobility of England and

Ireland! Mrs Smith! Such a name!"

Mrs Clay, who had been present while all this passed, now thought it

advisable to leave the room, and Anne could have said much, and did

long to say a little in defence of her friend's not very dissimilar

claims to theirs, but her sense of personal respect to her father

prevented her. She made no reply. She left it to himself to

recollect, that Mrs Smith was not the only widow in Bath between thirty

and forty, with little to live on, and no surname of dignity.

Anne kept her appointment; the others kept theirs, and of course she

heard the next morning that they had had a delightful evening. She had

been the only one of the set absent, for Sir Walter and Elizabeth had

not only been quite at her ladyship's service themselves, but had

actually been happy to be employed by her in collecting others, and had

been at the trouble of inviting both Lady Russell and Mr Elliot; and Mr

Elliot had made a point of leaving Colonel Wallis early, and Lady

Russell had fresh arranged all her evening engagements in order to wait

on her. Anne had the whole history of all that such an evening could

supply from Lady Russell. To her, its greatest interest must be, in

having been very much talked of between her friend and Mr Elliot; in

having been wished for, regretted, and at the same time honoured for

staying away in such a cause. Her kind, compassionate visits to this

old schoolfellow, sick and reduced, seemed to have quite delighted Mr

Elliot. He thought her a most extraordinary young woman; in her

temper, manners, mind, a model of female excellence. He could meet

even Lady Russell in a discussion of her merits; and Anne could not be

given to understand so much by her friend, could not know herself to be

so highly rated by a sensible man, without many of those agreeable

sensations which her friend meant to create.




readonlinefreebook.com Copyright 2016 - 2024