There can be no doubt that Lady Russell and Anne were both occasionally

thinking of Captain Benwick, from this time. Lady Russell could not

hear the door-bell without feeling that it might be his herald; nor

could Anne return from any stroll of solitary indulgence in her

father's grounds, or any visit of charity in the village, without

wondering whether she might see him or hear of him. Captain Benwick

came not, however. He was either less disposed for it than Charles had

imagined, or he was too shy; and after giving him a week's indulgence,

Lady Russell determined him to be unworthy of the interest which he had

been beginning to excite.

The Musgroves came back to receive their happy boys and girls from

school, bringing with them Mrs Harville's little children, to improve

the noise of Uppercross, and lessen that of Lyme. Henrietta remained

with Louisa; but all the rest of the family were again in their usual

quarters.

Lady Russell and Anne paid their compliments to them once, when Anne

could not but feel that Uppercross was already quite alive again.

Though neither Henrietta, nor Louisa, nor Charles Hayter, nor Captain

Wentworth were there, the room presented as strong a contrast as could

be wished to the last state she had seen it in.

Immediately surrounding Mrs Musgrove were the little Harvilles, whom

she was sedulously guarding from the tyranny of the two children from

the Cottage, expressly arrived to amuse them. On one side was a table

occupied by some chattering girls, cutting up silk and gold paper; and

on the other were tressels and trays, bending under the weight of brawn

and cold pies, where riotous boys were holding high revel; the whole

completed by a roaring Christmas fire, which seemed determined to be

heard, in spite of all the noise of the others. Charles and Mary also

came in, of course, during their visit, and Mr Musgrove made a point of

paying his respects to Lady Russell, and sat down close to her for ten

minutes, talking with a very raised voice, but from the clamour of the

children on his knees, generally in vain. It was a fine family-piece.

Anne, judging from her own temperament, would have deemed such a

domestic hurricane a bad restorative of the nerves, which Louisa's

illness must have so greatly shaken. But Mrs Musgrove, who got Anne

near her on purpose to thank her most cordially, again and again, for

all her attentions to them, concluded a short recapitulation of what

she had suffered herself by observing, with a happy glance round the

room, that after all she had gone through, nothing was so likely to do

her good as a little quiet cheerfulness at home.




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