“Perhaps,” cried Anne, struck by a sudden idea, “you sometimes spoke of me to Mr. Elliot?”

“To be sure I did; very often. I used to boast of my own Anne Elliot, and vouch for your being a very different creature from⁠—”

She checked herself just in time.

“This accounts for something which Mr. Elliot said last night,” cried Anne. “This explains it. I found he had been used to hear of me. I could not comprehend how. What wild imaginations one forms where dear self is concerned! How sure to be mistaken! But I beg your pardon; I have interrupted you. Mr. Elliot married then completely for money? The circumstances, probably, which first opened your eyes to his character.”