CHAPTER XIII

The weather continued much the same all the following morning; and the same loneliness, and the same melancholy, seemed to reign at Hartfield--but in the afternoon it cleared; the wind changed into a softer quarter; the clouds were carried off; the sun appeared; it was summer again.

With all the eagerness which such a transition gives, Emma resolved to be out of doors as soon as possible.

Never had the exquisite sight, smell, sensation of nature, tranquil, warm, and brilliant after a storm, been more attractive to her.

She longed for the serenity they might gradually introduce; and on Mr.Perry's coming in soon after dinner, with a disengaged hour to give her father, she lost no time ill hurrying into the shrubbery .-- There, with spirits freshened, and thoughts a little relieved, she had taken a few turns, when she saw Mr.
Knightley passing through the garden door, and coming towards her .-- It was the first intimation of his being returned from London.

She had been thinking of him the moment before, as unquestionably sixteen miles distant .-- There was time only for the quickest arrangement of mind.