Will Lady Russell ever be able to have a conversation with Anne that is not painful and difficult?
Lady Russell sipped her tea but Anne merely stared at hers. Something was on Anne’s mind—something more than the family’s impending change in circumstances, something very troubling. Perhaps she should mind her own business. That was an appealing thought. But if she did not ask, she knew there was no one else who would take interest in Anne’s distraction.
“Has Elizabeth had another…ah…discussion…with you?”
Anne set her tea cup aside and walked to the window. Silhouetted in the sun light, she was the spit and image of her dear mother. Lady Elliot has been one of those rare women for whom economy and sense were things of beauty and her daughter was little different, whereas Elizabeth was her father’s daughter and made it her sworn duty to point out Anne’s insufficiency in all things.
“I can see she has. Is she complaining again of—”
“No, no, it is not that. Not exactly.” Anne ran her hand along the edge of the curtain and fingered the tassel on the silk tie. “We disagreed, but not over the usual things.”
“Then what?” Oh dear, this could be nothing but bad news. Lady Russell gripped the arms of her chair.
“Oh, it is hard to say.”
“Hard to say what you quarreled about? In that you do not know or that it is a difficult matter to talk about?”
“Oh, I do not know. In any case, am sure I was wrong.”
Lady Russell hurried to Anne. Her intuition was excellent and she was very rarely wrong. “Do not be so quick to make that judgment. Tell me what happened.”
Anne turned and leaned against the window sill. “No, I am being silly and small minded.”
“Those are two words I have never thought to describe you with and I doubt anyone but your sister and father might. Please, my dear, I cannot help you if you do not tell me.”
Anne sniffed and her gaze wandered to the ceiling.
Oh, this was bad. Anne never failed to look her I the eye unless something was heart wrenchingly wrong.
“You are familiar with Mr. Shepard’s daughter?”
Lady Russell’s face went cold. “Mrs. Clay? She is just out of her mourning, is she not?”
“She set aside her mourning gowns just a few months ago I believe.”
“And she has two small children, but that is nearly all her husband left her?” All that was common knowledge, but she had to say something to buy enough time to regain her equanimity.
“Correct. The debts he left to settle took most of what she should have had to live on, that is why she has returned to her father’s house.”
“She told you all this?”
Anne laughed, sad and a little bitter. “Lady Russell, you might be shocked at how much people tell me. I do not understand why, but on the whole, people make themselves free to unburden themselves to me as if I might somehow know the answer to their problems or be able to make a material difference. I know and have heard far more than I would have ever cared to.”
Just like her mother, dear child. Lady Elliot had always been such a repository of wisdom and solace for all those we went to her.
“So Mrs. Clay—”
“Penelope, my sister calls her, and the courtesy has been extended to me as well. She is ‘Penelope’ in our home, now.” Anne rolled her eyes.
“Oh dear, I had feared such a thing.” Lady Russell bit her knuckle and sank onto the window bench.
“Am I to gather than that you experience little fondness for Mrs. Clay?”
How to put it discretely? “I find it difficult to discern anything of value in her company.”
“Her understanding is shallow, her opinions mean, and her admiration of my…my…”
Lady Russell squeezed her eyes shut. “Father?”
“I had thought to say family.” Anne shook her head sharply.
“Go on.”
“It is exactly what my father and sister prefer, but I find the admiration is much too much, beyond the bounds of all good taste.”
“And sense?”
“Yes, that too.” Anne pinched her temples and screwed up her face. “I made mention of it to Elizabeth.”
Ah, of course! “And that was the point over which you quarreled?”
“Yes!” Anne threw her hands in the air. “It is the most inexplicable thing. I cannot understand. Mrs. Clay is not the kind of company I would have thought valuable to Elizabeth. The woman has nothing to recommend her and so much against her. She has no fortune, no connections—either of which I could abide, but not my sister. Forgive me, but she has no good looks, no style, her manners are barely this side of tolerable—all things that matter to Elizabeth very much.”
“And to your father as well.”
“Absolutely! It astounds me that he would permit her so much in his company when, if he met her on the streets, he would pronounce her a fright.”
“You do not like her?”
“Not at all. I suppose she is not a bad sort of woman, but we have nothing in common and see things very differently. Her only opinions are to agree with whomever is speaking. She has read nothing, absolutely nothing, no poetry, no prose. I suppose she reads a few pieces from The Lady’s Magazine and the scandal sheets, but I hardly consider those an admirable source of information.”
“Though it would contain enough information for her to follow most of your sister’s conversations.” Lady Russell laid a hand on Anne’s arm. “I am afraid I would go so far as to call her ‘not a bad sort of woman.’”
“What do you mean?”
“I have been hesitant to bring it up, but I too have concerns about Mrs. Clay’s presence in your household.”
Anne sagged back against the window frame and puffed a shallow breath. “So then it is not just me.”
“Not at all.”
“And the funny little feeling in the depths of my stomach…”
“I share with you.”
Anne dropped to her knees beside Lady Russell and clutched her hand. “Please, tell me everything, everything you have thought or felt in regards to Mrs. Clay.”
“Oh my dear, it is difficult.”
“Why? You have told me far more difficult things I am sure.”
Lady Russell winced. That pain would never go away, would it? Her advice had been sound and would have proven out had things gone the way they were most likely to have gone. “I am afraid the matter of concern to me is rather…indelicate…”
“Indelicate?”
“Yes.”
Anne’s brows knit, the thoughts whirring through her mind clear upon her face.
“Mrs. Clay?”
“Whilst I should not speak of it to you, it would be wrong of me not to speak of it at all.” Lady Russell pinched the bridge of her nose. Bad enough to speak of this with Anne, but to meet her eyes too? No. “My dear, consider Mr. Shepard.”
“What of him, other than I do not particularly like him either and find his advice rather self-serving.”
“Self-serving…that is exactly how I would describe the man.”
“You do not trust him or his motives?” Anne asked.
“Do you?”
“He flatters far more than he advises and when he does advise, I find I am often in disagreement with his recommendations.”
Enough delicate hinting. Lady Russell swallowed hard. “Why do you suppose he might position his daughter to be your sister’s particular friend and so close to your widowed father?”
Anne gasped. “No! You do not suppose…”
“That is exactly why I said it was an indelicate thought. That is precisely what I suppose.”
“But why would father even consider…her?”
“Men are far stranger creatures than you realize, Anne. Their vanity is as pronounced as a woman’s. Perhaps Mrs. Clay’s plainness is an advantage in this situation. She garners no attention to herself, leaving it all for your father and sister. It seems to me that would be a material advantage. Not to mention her flattery and devotion to both of them could easily put her in the way of offering…let us say more to him.”
Anne pressed a hand to her chest. “More? Surely not…my father?”
“He is a man my dear and I should be surprised if he has lost the taste for baser pleasures.”
“Oh dear.” Anne rose, hands shaking.
It was a rather jarring thing to consider one’s father in such a light, poor child. “Please forgive me, I know I have caused you distress.”
“Only a little more than I had already been feeling. Lady Russell, what am I to do? I do not…I cannot…but she…what am I to do?”
Lady Russell took her arm and guided her to a chair. “I do not think this is something you can approach directly, but it must be handled with a very delicate hand. Perhaps if you make yourself more useful to your father…”
Anne’s look would have shattered glass.
“Then again, perhaps not…your sister then…no that is equally unlikely. If you were to gently begin remarking on how it looks to be seen with Mrs. Clay, to have her in the house so much?”
“Yes, that might do. Perhaps there is something to be said now for going to Bath. I can be much more in favor of it as it distances us from Mrs. Clay.”
“That is an excellent thought indeed.”
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“Anne’s look would have shattered glass”. That line made me laugh out loud. It was an excellent way to cut the tension from this chapter. This chapter made us better understand the relationship between Anne and Lady Russell, and in particular, it made me understand how much she looked to her for support and advice, and vice versa. Lady Russell looks to Anne for common sense and sound judgements, just as Anne looks to Lady Russell for the same things. This must have been a difficult chapter to write, because it is difficult to be delicate and still comprehensible, which the times would have required. You did a perfect job with this. I felt Anne’s horror, despair, and melancholy very keenly, and I truly felt Lady Russell’s concern. I no longer see her as a loving busybody as I once did, but as a loving friend and counseller. It was a lovely friendship that they had. I especially liked the way that Lady Russell pointed out how harmful the sycophantic flattery was that Mrs. Clay provided. Anne herself realized this, because she saw evidence of it every day, but it was good for her to know that someone else saw and felt the same concerns that she did. As the only sane, rational person in a family of eccentric and foolishly self-indulgent people, it must have been comforting to know someone who loved and respected her, and validated her opinions. Too often her family dismissed her because they didn’t like what she said. Self important egotistical snobs quite often attract people who tell them exactly what they want to hear, and who thereby flatter themselves into a cozy position. I recall Sir Walter saying something in the original, to the effect that Mrs. Clay’s looks had improved, that her freckles were no longer very noticeable. He put it down to her use of Gowland’s skin creme, but the rest of us put it down to something else entirely. It may have been due to her bowing, scraping and flattery alone, although we may assume more. Mrs. Clay wasn’t very smart, but she was smart enough to get what she wanted from Sir Walter and his heir: skin creme had nothing to do with it. To get rid of her freckles, Mrs. Clay would have needed so much face creme, that cheese would have formed on her face. Although Lady Russell wasn’t right about everything, she was a very good, solid friend for Anne, and she does appear to regret being wrong about Wentworth. A very insightful and satisfying chapter. Everything that needed to be said was said. You have made a convert of me. The next time I read Persuasion, I will see it through different eyes. It is funny how times change. To think that freckles were once considered a bad thing is funny, when 100 plus years later, Sarah Ferguson was celebrated for her red hair and freckles! As someone of Celtic decent, I have always had a light sprinkling of freckles, and I have never minded them. In P&P, poor Mary King was scathingly called a nasty freckled little thing. In an age when appearance was everything, women were held to a higher standard than men for something as meaningless as that. Men were also more easily forgiven for lapses and indiscretions than women were for having freckles!
A wonderful chapter; I agree with everything that Mari said. Perhaps that makes me sound a bit like Mrs. Clay? Nonetheless, your writing and insight were excellent!
Well done, Maria! I especially enjoyed your your mention of how people are always unburdening themselves to Anne – a hint of that scene to come, at Uppercross. 🙂
I too agree with everything Mari so eloquently stated as Leslie said. Yes, Anne has Mrs. Russel to go to for advice, but no one to give her solace. Even with Mrs. Russell’s friendship she is so alone. While reading this I too agree with Shannon…the hint of the scene at Uppercross….the 2008 movie version showed, very clearly, how everyone would underburden themselves to her. It would almost be comical, if she weren’t so much a lone ship at sea. My favorite part is…”Perhaps if you make yourself more useful to your father…”
Anne’s look would have shattered glass.
“Then again, perhaps not…your sister then…no that is equally unlikely””. It was quite funny as Anne is already doing that. 😉
I just wish she were appreciated more. Another wonderful piece of writing that gives us more insight into Anne and Mrs. Russell. One of the first things I noted is that this was told from Mrs. Russell’s point of view. Thank you so much. 🙂
A well written chapter, showing another side of Anne and Lady Russell s relationship. Anne is always the sounding board, yet no one ever really just listens to her. Every so often we just need to be truly listened to, not so they can fix it or offer advice, just to be heard.
Oh gosh, AWKWARD!
Brilliantly handled, Grace! This is a scene I never gave any thought to before, but I loved how you portrayed it. Poor Anne (again!) – and I too loved how you acknowledged she is everyone’s ‘go to’ person when they need an ear or a shoulder!
A beautifully written chapter, Maria-I enjoyed it immensely!
OK, I will be a “ditto-head”: Mari took so much time to give us her perspective but it was so well said.
Yes, just the fact that everyone bends Anne’s ear tells us how deep down inside people respect her, even if it is not stated. She is a listener, and doesn’t cast judgments, when in that role.
Considering this: “He is a man my dear and I should be surprised if he has lost the taste for baser pleasures.” We don’t talk about this side of our characters but were they any different in their needs, wants and/or desires? There are too many hints that Mrs. Clay becomes the mistress for William Eliot at the end of this story or in the movie. So she might think she could have her cake and eat it too one way or another? – Someone to support her since her husband left her nothing? Leaves me wondering if her father is footing the bill for her children and thus is really pushing for financial help, in any way possible?
But those thoughts are no going to be explicitly addressed by authors of that day and age.
Thank you for a look at how a close family acquaintance viewed this situation. Her thoughts on Anne give us a view of how valued Anne was to her, even with the bad advice about Frederick. I love the thought that “Silhouetted in the sun light, she was the spit and image of her dear mother.”
That was an enjoyable read. Poor Anne having to speak of such things! (I know I shouldn’t, but I rather feel a small bit of pleasure when Lady Russell feels the pain of her previous advice to Anne.)
Very delicately written Maria! Anne does not really want to say a bad word about anyone but people are so willing to unburden to her!
I like this story as I never imagine Lady Russell would discuss this difficult subject with Anne. It sure shed some light on Mrs Clay’s motives and inserted herself in the Elliots household.