“You are the most surprising person! Who would have expected you to be still in London!”
“Did you think I had left?”
Mr Elliot was no longer shy, and his look, fixed on hers, was as frank and open as a child’s. Lady Fanny fidgeted, and confessed—
“No, no, I did not.”
“I could not have gone without seeing you. Do you recollect what I said I wanted?” Fanny nodded, and remarked that it could only be a question of what he wished himself.
“Scarcely that,” he said, without looking at her. “But circumstances have forced me into decision without asking your advice.”
She leant forward eagerly.
“I am very glad. I hope you asked nobody. Why should you hesitate? It was offered to you because you were the best man. The best man should have it. Yes, I am glad, for it shows that they can appreciate—”
She stopped, fearing to have said too much. He fingered a paper-knife on the table, and eyed the floor. When he spoke, it was with a certain stiffness.
“I shall always be sensible of the kindness—the undeserved kindness. It has made me more ashamed of my own failures than ever before—”