Mr. Robinson came, and having examined his patient, said that she had moderately sprained her ankle. He advised her to keep off her left foot for one week, and silently wondered why the Musgroves seemed so prone to falling lately.
Louisa inquired about returning to Uppercross, and Mr. Robinson agreed that she could be safely transported home by carriage. Mrs. Hayter, however, was so desirous to be of use to her nieces, and Henrietta so happy to stay, that together they bore down Louisa's wish for leaving as soon as possible. The whole party was already engaged to dine at Uppercross the following evening. It was decided, therefore, that the Miss Musgroves would stay the night at Winthrop, and they were not to be expected back home till the next day's dinner.
Once it was settled, Charles, Captain Wentworth, Mary and Anne proceeded back to Uppercross. Anne walked next to Mary, listening to her sister complain of having endured a visit to Winthrop for the third time in her life. Anne only nodded in sympathy, her thoughts elsewhere.
Anne wondered whether it might occur to Captain Wentworth now, to question the justness of his own previous opinion as to the universal felicity and advantage of firmness of character; and whether it might not strike him that, like all other qualities of the mind, it should have its proportions and limits. His mind was similarly engaged as he distinguished between the darings of heedlessness and the resolution of a collected mind.
After walking some time with the two ladies in front, the two gentlemen behind, there chanced to be a little alteration. Mary, feeling quite fatigued, needed her husband's arm for support. Captain Wentworth took her place by Anne, and they walked on together. He offered his arm to Anne but she sensed his reluctance; not wanting to cause discomfort for either of them, she declined. Several minutes passed by in silence. There had been a time when they would have found it most difficult to cease to speak to one another. Once so much to each other! Now nothing!
At length, Captain Wentworth said, "We are having very fine weather today."
"Yes, the weather is quite remarkable for November," she replied.
They continued on in this manner, each speaking to the other with a considerable portion of apparent indifference and calmness, and the conversation deviating only so far as to include talk of the roads and the country. Anne would have preferred silence to such common and dull subjects, which only reminded her of how slight their acquaintance had become. She sighed with relief when she finally saw Uppercross Cottage in the distance.
Captain Wentworth took leave and returned to Kellynch Hall, but not before promising Charles that he would return the next day to breakfast at the Cottage and go shooting with him.