Emma

He rode down for a couple of hours; he could not yet do more; but as he
came from Randalls immediately to Hartfield, she could then exercise
all her quick observation, and speedily determine how he was
influenced, and how she must act. They met with the utmost
friendliness. There could be no doubt of his great pleasure in seeing
her. But she had an almost instant doubt of his caring for her as he
had done, of his feeling the same tenderness in the same degree. She
watched him well. It was a clear thing he was less in love than he had
been. Absence, with the conviction probably of her indifference, had
produced this very natural and very desirable effect.

He was in high spirits; as ready to talk and laugh as ever, and seemed
delighted to speak of his former visit, and recur to old stories: and
he was not without agitation. It was not in his calmness that she read
his comparative indifference. He was not calm; his spirits were
evidently fluttered; there was restlessness about him. Lively as he
was, it seemed a liveliness that did not satisfy himself; but what
decided her belief on the subject, was his staying only a quarter of an
hour, and hurrying away to make other calls in Highbury. “He had seen a