"I should very much like to see Lyme again," said Anne.

"Indeed! I should not have supposed that you could have found anything

in Lyme to inspire such a feeling. The horror and distress you were

involved in, the stretch of mind, the wear of spirits! I should have

thought your last impressions of Lyme must have been strong disgust."

"The last hours were certainly very painful," replied Anne; "but when

pain is over, the remembrance of it often becomes a pleasure. One does

not love a place the less for having suffered in it, unless it has been

all suffering, nothing but suffering, which was by no means the case at

Lyme. We were only in anxiety and distress during the last two hours,

and previously there had been a great deal of enjoyment. So much

novelty and beauty! I have travelled so little, that every fresh place

would be interesting to me; but there is real beauty at Lyme; and in

short" (with a faint blush at some recollections), "altogether my

impressions of the place are very agreeable."

As she ceased, the entrance door opened again, and the very party

appeared for whom they were waiting. "Lady Dalrymple, Lady Dalrymple,"

was the rejoicing sound; and with all the eagerness compatible with

anxious elegance, Sir Walter and his two ladies stepped forward to meet

her. Lady Dalrymple and Miss Carteret, escorted by Mr Elliot and

Colonel Wallis, who had happened to arrive nearly at the same instant,

advanced into the room. The others joined them, and it was a group in

which Anne found herself also necessarily included. She was divided

from Captain Wentworth. Their interesting, almost too interesting

conversation must be broken up for a time, but slight was the penance

compared with the happiness which brought it on! She had learnt, in

the last ten minutes, more of his feelings towards Louisa, more of all

his feelings than she dared to think of; and she gave herself up to the

demands of the party, to the needful civilities of the moment, with

exquisite, though agitated sensations. She was in good humour with

all. She had received ideas which disposed her to be courteous and

kind to all, and to pity every one, as being less happy than herself.

The delightful emotions were a little subdued, when on stepping back

from the group, to be joined again by Captain Wentworth, she saw that

he was gone. She was just in time to see him turn into the Concert

Room. He was gone; he had disappeared, she felt a moment's regret.

But "they should meet again. He would look for her, he would find her

out before the evening were over, and at present, perhaps, it was as

well to be asunder. She was in need of a little interval for

recollection."




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