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Anne crossed the road, walking towards a small cottage.

    I recognized it as the house of Miss Scott, and guessed that Miss Anne was going to pay her respects. I turned my steps in the same direction and we arrived on the doorstep together. She looked up, surprised, and I made her a bow, remarking that we seemed to be intent on the same purpose. She smiled, and we exchanged pleasantries. She was looking remarkably well, with a bloom on her cheek and a look in her eye that showed me she was not averse to teasing me if the occasion arose.

    I was just about to make some remark when we noticed that the door was ajar. Miss Anne looked at me questioningly and I pushed the door open, whilst Miss Anne called out our names so as not to alarm anyone in the house.

    We went in, expecting to find the maid, but no one was there, and so we went through to the parlour, where we were confronted by Miss Scott, brandishing the poker.

    ‘Oh, my dear, I am so sorry, I thought you were Napoleon,’ she said.

    She returned the poker to its place by the fire, whilst Miss Anne behaved as though she was mistaken for the scourge of Europe every day, and asked Miss Scott how she did.

    ‘Very well, I thank you, my dear. It is very good of you to call.’

    Miss Anne remarked on the open door, and Miss Scott tutted, and said she had had problems with her new maid, a young girl who spent more time flirting with the baker’s boy than she did in attending to her mistress.

    We sympathized with her, and Miss Anne promised to speak to the girl.

    ‘My dear, I will be so grateful, for I am sure she will listen to you. I have told her until I am blue in the face that the French will be here at any moment, but she does not believe me.’

    She went on to regale us with an account of her ailments and her sister’s ailments, before asking after Sir Walter’s health, Miss Elliot’s health, Miss Anne’s health, and Miss Mary’s health.

    Miss Anne and I eventually took our leave, and we had just reached the doorstep when my brother happened by. I was disappointed, for I would have liked to savour my last few minutes alone with Miss Anne, but I hid my feelings, and my brother and I escorted her back to the shop together. We parted from her outside, she to go in to her companions, and we to continue on our way.

    ‘It was very noble of you to call on Miss Scott,’ said my brother, as I walked on with him, ‘or could your visit have had another purpose?’

    ‘It was entirely prompted by charity,’ I told him.

    He did not believe me, but he let it pass, and we went to luncheon together.

Friday 11 July

    This morning brought a letter from Harville, telling me that his beloved Harriet had accepted his proposal, and that they had agreed to marry at the start of September.

    ‘Will you go to the wedding?’ Edward asked me.

    ‘Certainly. He asked me to stand up with him.’

    ‘He seems rather young for such as undertaking. He is no older than you, I believe, and you are only three-and-twenty. It is far too soon to be taking a wife.’

    ‘I agree with you, and I have told him so, many times, but he is determined on the match, and nothing I can say will change his mind.’

    ‘Can he not put it off? He would do better to enter into an engagement than a marriage at his time of life. Marriage brings with it burdens and responsibilities, and they would only weigh him down.’

    ‘He has a distrust of long engagements, and, having made up his mind, he feels that he cannot marry too soon, for he could be called back to sea again at any time. I dare say that Harriet does not want to wait any more than he does, and if they miss this opportunity, who knows when he will be at home again? He asks me to go and see him, so that I can meet Harriet,’ I said, folding my letter. ‘I will go next week, if you are agreeable.’

    ‘Pray do not consult my wishes, I am only your host.’

    ‘You may pay me back when I buy my estate,’ I said. ‘You may visit