"And yet," said Anne to herself, as they now moved forward to meet the

party, "he has not, perhaps, a more sorrowing heart than I have. I

cannot believe his prospects so blighted for ever. He is younger than

I am; younger in feeling, if not in fact; younger as a man. He will

rally again, and be happy with another."

They all met, and were introduced. Captain Harville was a tall, dark

man, with a sensible, benevolent countenance; a little lame; and from

strong features and want of health, looking much older than Captain

Wentworth. Captain Benwick looked, and was, the youngest of the three,

and, compared with either of them, a little man. He had a pleasing

face and a melancholy air, just as he ought to have, and drew back from

conversation.

Captain Harville, though not equalling Captain Wentworth in manners,

was a perfect gentleman, unaffected, warm, and obliging. Mrs Harville,

a degree less polished than her husband, seemed, however, to have the

same good feelings; and nothing could be more pleasant than their

desire of considering the whole party as friends of their own, because

the friends of Captain Wentworth, or more kindly hospitable than their

entreaties for their all promising to dine with them. The dinner,

already ordered at the inn, was at last, though unwillingly, accepted

as a excuse; but they seemed almost hurt that Captain Wentworth should

have brought any such party to Lyme, without considering it as a thing

of course that they should dine with them.

There was so much attachment to Captain Wentworth in all this, and such

a bewitching charm in a degree of hospitality so uncommon, so unlike

the usual style of give-and-take invitations, and dinners of formality

and display, that Anne felt her spirits not likely to be benefited by

an increasing acquaintance among his brother-officers. "These would

have been all my friends," was her thought; and she had to struggle

against a great tendency to lowness.

On quitting the Cobb, they all went in-doors with their new friends,

and found rooms so small as none but those who invite from the heart

could think capable of accommodating so many. Anne had a moment's

astonishment on the subject herself; but it was soon lost in the

pleasanter feelings which sprang from the sight of all the ingenious

contrivances and nice arrangements of Captain Harville, to turn the

actual space to the best account, to supply the deficiencies of

lodging-house furniture, and defend the windows and doors against the

winter storms to be expected. The varieties in the fitting-up of the

rooms, where the common necessaries provided by the owner, in the

common indifferent plight, were contrasted with some few articles of a

rare species of wood, excellently worked up, and with something curious

and valuable from all the distant countries Captain Harville had

visited, were more than amusing to Anne; connected as it all was with

his profession, the fruit of its labours, the effect of its influence

on his habits, the picture of repose and domestic happiness it

presented, made it to her a something more, or less, than gratification.




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