Jane Austen: Persuasion

Chapter 15 (continued)

He staid an hour with them. The elegant little clock on the mantel- piece had struck "eleven with its silver sounds," and the watchman was beginning to be heard at a distance telling the same tale, before Mr Elliot or any of them seemed to feel that he had been there long.

Anne could not have supposed it possible that her first evening in Camden Place could have passed so well!