“Oh!  Captain Benwick is very well, I believe, but he is a very odd young man.  I do not know what he would be at.  We asked him to come home with us for a day or two:  Charles undertook to give him some shooting, and he seemed quite delighted, and, for my part, I thought it was all settled; when behold! on Tuesday night, he made a very awkward sort of excuse; `he never shot’ and he had `been quite misunderstood,’ and he had promised this and he had promised that, and the end of it was, I found, that he did not mean to come.  I suppose he was afraid of finding it dull; but upon my word I should have thought we were lively enough at the Cottage for such a heart-broken man as Captain Benwick.”

Charles laughed again and said, “Now Mary, you know very well how it really was.  It was all your doing,” (turning to Anne.) “He fancied that if he went with us, he should find you close by:  he fancied everybody to be living in Uppercross; and when he discovered that Lady Russell lived three miles off, his heart failed him, and he had not courage to come.  That is the fact, upon my honour, Mary knows it is.”

But Mary did not give into it very graciously, whether from not considering Captain Benwick entitled by birth and situation to be in love with an Elliot, or from not wanting to believe Anne a greater attraction to Uppercross than herself, must be left to be guessed.  Anne’s good-will, however, was not to be lessened by what she heard.  She boldly acknowledged herself flattered, and continued her enquiries.

“Oh! he talks of you,” cried Charles, “in such terms—­” Mary interrupted him.  “I declare, Charles, I never heard him mention Anne twice all the time I was there.  I declare, Anne, he never talks of you at all.”

“No,” admitted Charles, “I do not know that he ever does, in a general way; but however, it is a very clear thing that he admires you exceedingly.  His head is full of some books that he is reading upon your recommendation, and he wants to talk to you about them; he has found out something or other in one of them which he thinks—­oh!  I cannot pretend to remember it, but it was something very fine—­I overheard him telling Henrietta all about it; and then `Miss Elliot’ was spoken of in the highest terms!  Now Mary, I declare it was so, I heard it myself, and you were in the other room. `Elegance, sweetness, beauty.’  Oh! there was no end of Miss Elliot’s charms.”

“And I am sure,” cried Mary, warmly, “it was a very little to his credit, if he did.  Miss Harville only died last June.  Such a heart is very little worth having; is it, Lady Russell?  I am sure you will agree with me.”

“I must see Captain Benwick before I decide,” said Lady Russell, smiling.

“And that you are very likely to do very soon, I can tell you, ma’am,” said Charles.  “Though he had not nerves for coming away with us, and setting off again afterwards to pay a formal visit here, he will make his way over to Kellynch one day by himself, you may depend on it.  I told him the distance and the road, and I told him of the church’s being so very well worth seeing; for as he has a taste for those sort of things, I thought that would be a good excuse, and he listened with all his understanding and soul; and I am sure from his manner that you will have him calling here soon.  So, I give you notice, Lady Russell.”