satisfy him as to Mr. Elliot and Kellynch; and the delicacy
of the Admiral's good-nature kept him from saying another word on the
subject to Anne. He was quite concerned lest he might have been giving
her pain by touching on a tender part--who could say? She might be
liking her cousin better than he liked her; and, upon recollection, if
they had been to marry at all, why should they have waited so long? When
the evening closed, it is probable that the Admiral received some new
ideas from his wife, whose particularly friendly manner in parting with
her gave Anne the gratifying persuasion of her seeing and approving. It
had been such a day to Anne; the hours which had passed since her leaving
Camden Place had done so much! She was almost bewildered--almost too
happy in looking back. It was necessary to sit up half the night, and
lie awake the remainder, to comprehend with composure her present state,
and pay for the overplus of bliss by headache and fatigue.

* * * * *

Then follows Chapter XI., _i.e_. XII. in the published book and at the
end is written--

_Finis_, _July_ 18, 1816.

CHAPTER XIII.

_The Last Work_.

Jane Austen was taken from us: how much unexhausted talent perished with
her, how largely she might yet have contributed to the entertainment of
her readers, if her life had been prolonged, cannot be known; but it is
certain that the mine at which she had so long laboured was not worked
out, and that she was still diligently employed in collecting fresh
materials from it. 'Persuasion' had been finished in August 1816; some
time was probably given to correcting it for the press; but on the 27th
of the following January, according to the date on her own manuscript,
she began a new novel, and worked at it up to the 17th of March. The
chief part of this manuscript is written in her usual firm and neat hand,
but some of the latter pages seem to have been first traced in pencil,
probably when she was too weak to sit long at her desk, and written over
in ink afterwards. The quantity produced does not indicate any decline
of power or industry, for in those seven weeks twelve chapters had been
completed. It is more difficult to judge of the quality of a work so
little advanced. It had received no name; there was scarcely any
indication what the course of the story was to be, nor was any heroine
yet perceptible, who, like Fanny Price, or Anne Elliot, might draw round
her the sympathies of the