Persuasion 200: Mary Has Something to Say

finalcobblogoMary had had her evils; but upon the whole, as was evident by her staying so long, she had found more to enjoy than to suffer.



As soon as Charles and Mary returned from Lyme, they drove over to see Anne at Kellynch Lodge, and to give her their report. Lady Russell was out, but Anne ordered tea, and poured, and passed the buttered muffin. Charles was comparatively quiet, his attention largely fixed on putting away a good meal, but Mary talked a mile to the minute.      

         Auvar Charmouth mary musgrove  

“I am very glad to hear that Louisa is doing so well,” Anne began, “and that it was possible for you to have a pleasant time, without alarms.”

“Oh! As to that, we did not have a pleasant time at all. I do not know how you can say so, Anne,” returned Mary crossly. “You, who have been so comfortable here at Kellynch-lodge, with every thing so nice, just as Lady Russell always arranges, and with no bad company to endure.”

“I hope you had no bad company at Lyme,” said Anne anxiously. “I was sure you liked the Harvilles as well as I do – and by all accounts, they did almost more for you than was possible, did not they?”

“They were well enough,” Mary agreed grudgingly; “I do not mean to complain of the Harvilles. They cannot help not having elegant ways. So poor as they are, and used to a rough sort of life, not in society at all, they can hardly be expected to know better.”

“Why, better than what?” Anne inquired. “I have never known people more civil, so truly good-hearted, than the Harvilles.”

“Yes, yes, as to all that; but you must know, Anne,” Mary paused impressively, “that they keep only one servant to wait at table. Imagine the dinners! Every thing merely slapped down, the meat growing cold, only two vegetables, and,” she lifted her hands in horror, “I hope you will not repeat this, for I should dislike it getting out, but I assure you that the same table-linen was in service every time we were at dinner. Yes, it is true. There was a wine-stain to the left of my plate on the first night, I remember it particularly because it was shaped like a fish, and there it remained every night following! Tell her, tell her Charles, is it not so?”

“Yes, that is all true enough,” he admitted, “but then it was my fault. I spilled the wine.”

“And laundry is expensive,” Anne reminded her sister, “I cannot conceive the Harvilles rich enough to be changing their table-linen every night. Do not forget that Mrs. Harville has been very much occupied with poor Louisa, and probably could not pay as much attention to her table as she might have wished.”

“I don’t say it isn’t so,” agreed Mary, spearing a muffin and reaching for the jam, “but that does not excuse her outright disregard of the laws of precedence, now, does it? It is just another thing to show the sort of breeding these seafaring men and their wives possess.”

Auvar charmouth Lyme

“Why, what happened?” asked Anne, concerned.

“Did I not write it to you? She gave Mrs. Musgrove the precedence over me! When all the world knows I am a baronet’s daughter! I was so much affronted by the impudence and disrespect of these low people, I would have gone home at once, except that I was so very useful to Louisa, she could not bear to part with me. Indeed, it is impossible to conceive how they could have gone on without me at all.”

Charles paused in his scooping out a honey-pot, and looked up in surprise. “Well, Mary, you know they wanted you to go home, and be with your children – but you would stay on even after your mother and father left. It is not as if you were of any use, for Mrs. Harville and her nursery-maid were such very experienced nurses! They left nothing for any one to do, and in any case, Mary, you know that whenever it was but the changing of Louisa’s dressing, you became hysterical.”

“Charles! How can you say so!” cried Mary heatedly. “I know I warmed the bandage-clothes with my own hands, more than once, and prepared a gruel that was far superior to any thing that nursery-maid could manage. It quite gave Louisa her appetite back. Perhaps that is why Mrs. Harville did not give me the proper precedence. She did not realize my station.”

“I am sure she meant no discourtesy,” Anne soothed her.

“Well, she did change her ways, but only after Henrietta told her whose daughter I was. A baronet’s daughter, made to walk in to dinner after a mere Mrs. Musgrove! I could not conceive what my father would have thought of it all.”

“Fortunately he was not there to witness the indignity,” said Charles. “Really, Mary, you make too much of these things.”

“Too much of the rules of precedence, and the ordering of society! I think not! Where would we be if every one was considered equal, pray tell? That would be a nice mess. All sorts of people who were too low to address our fathers, would think themselves our equal. I have heard my father say so, many times. That is the way to ruin society.”

“Mary is not an egalitarian,” shrugged Charles, licking the honey on his spoon.

“Indeed I am. I want to mix with my equals,” said Mary indignantly. “And that was just what was wrong at Lyme. The low company. Only think, Charles Hayter would not stop visiting, and I know it was to curry favour with Henrietta, and bring her the latest news of Louisa every day. Oh! What a scheme. But I saw through him. He is determined to have Henrietta,” she nodded emphatically.

“And if he does, it will be a good thing,” burst out Charles. “Don’t let us go through all that again. Charles Hayter is like a brother to me, and he is very good company.”

“Anne, you have seen Charles Hayter. Do you think him a fit person to be allied to one of our family?”

Anne tried to throw enough warmth into her tone to leave no doubt as to the question. “Yes, I do indeed, Mary. He is a very worthy young man, has known Henrietta all her life, and I do believe she returns his affection; why, only the morning of the accident, she was wishing he might soon replace Dr. Shirley and have a living of his own, so they might marry.”

“Oh! Well, if that is what you think,” Mary sniffed, and was silent.

“Do tell more about your stay in Lyme,” Anne urged her. “I am sure you had pleasant walks – did you not go to the library, and to church, and I believe something was said of a visit to Charmouth?”

“Yes, it was a mighty delightful side-trip, I can tell you,” Charles answered eagerly, “it is a fine pebbly beach, wonderful cliffs overlooking it all, and the water quite warm enough for bathing, even in November.”

“Oh, yes, we bathed,” said Mary, “it was tolerable, but nothing out of the ordinary. You do get sand in among your feet, and it is an immodest business, with so few bathing-machines in use at this time of year. But it was well enough.”

 

Auvar charmouth dover

“Why, you staid in for an hour, and could not be got out,” Charles protested.

“So there were some amusements, I collect,” said Anne with a smile. “And the library – was it a good one?”

“Not much of a selection of books, compared to Bath,” said Mary disdainfully, “Captain Benwick quite haunts the place, and has no time to give to any one. I was positively disgusted with him. Really Anne, you ought to have staid rather than us, and walked and talked about poetry with that Captain Benwick. You could have nursed Louisa.”

Anne, who had wanted to do that very thing, but been prevented by Mary’s obstinate insistence, only smiled and shook her head.

“If it were not for Captain Wentworth we could not have stood it at Lyme at all,” Mary declared. “We considered it his due, as there is such a very promising attachment between him and Louisa.”

“I am not so sure of that, Mary,” said Charles doubtfully. “I think his attachment lessening. He staid to make himself useful, for he felt so badly about his part in the accident, but I do not see much of love between them.”

“Pooh! It is just what one does not see,” exclaimed Mary. “I am sure it will all be settled as soon as her head is well again.”

Anne turned away, but much to her own vexation, found the struggle to master her feelings as painful as ever. 

 

 


 

Want to refresh your memory with Jane’s Austen’s original work? Read Persuasion on Austen variations HERE.

20 comments

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    • Mari on December 9, 2014 at 6:34 am
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    This was hilarious, and you did an amazing job of bringing out the pettiness, snobbishness, silliness, and arrogance of Mary. She is her father’s daughter and she and Elizabeth are much the same person, I am guessing that Mary is less attractive than Elizabeth, and as we know she is much less useful than Anne, which would explain why Sir Walter and Elizabeth have no use for her. Every time Mary said something ridiculous, she was countered by Charles or Anne. The Musgraves are truly good natured people to put up with her absurd behavior, although as we know they do complain about her among themselves. This was a delight to read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

  1. Thank you very much, Mari, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! The one I feel sorry for is Charles. Imagine having to put up with a wife like that, forever…you’d think he’d go mad, but he handles her pretty calmly and sensibly. Nothing can change her, but I actually think she’s not as bad as Elizabeth, who is completely cold.

    • Maggie Griscom on December 9, 2014 at 8:01 am
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    Needed a laugh this morning and you provided it with a great chapter. How Anne kept from breaking up I don’t know. Charles’s comment about being equalitarian really went past her. She didn’t get that it didn’t mean being equal with your peers. Poor Mary, she is Sir Walter’s daughter. I would rather have the Musgroves at my table than the Elliotts and probably Mrs. Harville would have also. Great read!

    1. Thank you, Maggie, I love it that you got a laugh! You raise an interesting question – why doesn’t Anne LAUGH at her family? We do. But she seems to take everything so seriously. Well, that’s probably because she’s unhappy. And after all, we don’t have to LIVE with the likes of Sir Walter and Elizabeth and Mary…no laughing matter, truly!

    • Theresa M on December 9, 2014 at 8:52 am
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    Mary certainky is an Elliot! Thsi was a very amusing chapter especially as it expandson so many of Mary’s comments in the original work. I do feel sorry for Charles but he isnt the sharpest tool in the shed either so to speak. H e did choose to marry Mary which according to the rules of society was “a brilliant match” since she ranked above him. It makes me think she must have been charmed or maybe lustful to marry beneath her….

    so Austen Variation Authors…story idea…Mary and Charles courtship?????

    1. Glad you were amused, Theresa, and now you have amused me, big time! Wouldn’t it be fascinating to write the Mary and Charles courtship. That would include Charles’s initial pursuit of Anne! I think that would be really interesting to explore. Might call it “A Willing Mind” (“the young man who not long afterwards found a more willing mind in her younger sister”). Wonder if it could work as a sort of adjunct to P200…

        • Theresa M on December 9, 2014 at 3:38 pm
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        My earlier comment was obviously typed pre-coffee but I would look forward to how you all would spin their story….I do love Persuasion and am delighted with P200. Thanks!

        1. Glad you’re enjoying it, and I wish I could come up with such great ideas before I’ve had my coffee, Theresa!

    • Debbie G. on December 9, 2014 at 12:55 pm
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    Marvelously funny, Mary’s pettiness shines through, she seemed to be as narcisstic as they come. Her father’s child, the Acorn did’t fall too far from the Oak tree with this gal either!

    1. So pleased you enjoyed it, Debbie. Narcissism is what “the Elliot pride” really is!

  2. I thoroughly enjoyed this foray into the Land of Mary in which she is the center of the universe and all of the planets orbit around her…. 😉

    Thank you!! I definitely needed a laugh this morning after grading essays until after 5:30 this morning…

    Warmly,
    Susanne 🙂

    1. Love you calling it the Land of Mary, Susanne – very apt! I hear you about the essays. My work is reading manuscripts for Warner Bros., and it very much resembles getting through a dispiriting batch of student essays. If I couldn’t divert myself with Jane Austen it would be much worse! But we’ll both have Christmas vacation very soon now!

    • Carole in Canada on December 9, 2014 at 4:13 pm
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    What a pea-brain! She talks to make herself sound important and intelligent but is so far off the mark! Great posting Diana!

    1. Love pea-brain! I’m not sure she actually lacked intelligence, but her judgment was so flawed by her upbringing that it definitely affected her. The REAL pea-brain is that peacock, Sir Walter Elliot!

    • Deborah on December 9, 2014 at 8:00 pm
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    I enjoyed reading this! Mary is so much an Elliott! Then to day Anne should’ve stayed! Uugghh. Who told Anne yo leave? Mary is such a mutton head. Thank you for such a fun read! Sorry, thought I posted earlier. Read it at 4am. Guess who was the muttonhead at that time. 🙂

    • Kathy on December 9, 2014 at 9:37 pm
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    Really enjoyable to read. I agree that Anne’s patient listening to her sister’s tirade is probably because it’s her family, and it stopped being funny long ago! Charles is quite something, he just puts up with his wife’s hysteria and slogs through her absurd comments without a lot of fanfare. With such a tiresome wife, he could be excused if he raised his voice and really let her know how incorrect she is about things, but that’s probably not worth his energy! I thought it was interesting that they commented on Wentworth’s supposed attachment to Louisa, and the possible love between them. No one could guess that there’s love between Mary and Charles, could they?

  3. Love between Mary and Charles does seem to be a bit worn out, but a couple of things do separate them from modern couples: no birth control, so Mary was probably querulous and irritable from the ill health of childbearing without modern medicine, and there was no divorce, so Charles just put up with things as they were. Nowadays that couple might not have stayed together. One of the few things that seems to keep them together and of similar mind, is a mutual love of gossip! Thanks for your comment, Kathy.

    • Sheila L. M. on December 10, 2014 at 11:03 pm
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    Yes, I picked up on that “Anne, you should have stayed” knowing that Mary was hysterical when Wentworth and Charles suggested Anne was the best one to stay and nurse Louisa. Mary, like Lydia Bennet, only hears what she wants to hear (if anything) and then interprets it as she likes. I keep thinking that Mary used Louisa’s accident as another excuse to not be in the company of her own children….as when she didn’t want to miss the dinner with Capt. Wentworth at her in-law’s house. Selfish, selfish girl!

    I am sure Anne has become numb to much of what her family says and does, as she can in no way stop nor change their embarrassing comments and behaviors. And the whole Musgrove family does complain to her about Mary behind Mary’s back. Poor Charles – he like the young women were very limited in acquaintances and, thus, in actually having a lot of choice for brides. Out in the country, limited number of families, much less young women of the right age or social standing…so look around: to marry poorly or stay single?

    1. Sheila, that does seem to be about the size of it – Mary is always trying to get out of caring for her children. My favorite moment is when she says that it will be better for Anne to stay with the injured boy because she “has not the feelings of a mother.” Delicious, that!

  4. As usual Mary is back to her own self again even in the midst of a bad accident. Why she keep on whining away and complaining is beyond me as she did enjoyed herself in Lyme. She really is mean spirited and remind me of Mrs Bennet in some ways. ‘She was a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper.’

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