"The name of Anne Elliot," said he, "has long had an interesting sound to me. Very long has it possessed a charm over my fancy; and, if I dared, I would breathe my wishes that the name might never change."

She denies that she is going to marry him to a friend. This is not a public denouncement. You have no way of knowing if Mrs Rook will carry the information upstream.

And every man is refused until he has spoken :-)