Sir Walter and the ladies depart for Bath while Anne walks up to Kellynch Lodge to stay with Lady Russell.
Sir Walter examined the horses he was so soon to give up, with complaisant satisfaction. Their last office would be to draw him, Miss Elliot, and Mrs. Clay, to Bath.
“We will make a very good picture,” observed Sir Walter, “arriving in Bath with four such carriage-horses. I am sure few so fine are ever seen there. I know I have never seen any.”
“People do not need to keep a span of horses in Bath,” Anne reminded him, “most of the residents of the place find it more convenient to walk.”
“Do you not suppose my father knows that?” said Elizabeth with scorn. “As it happens, most of the great, at least, do keep carriage-horses, and stables, in Bath. I think it is a great pity we are not to be allowed to have our own.”
“Mr. Shepherd advised not, because a house large enough to have stables, in Bath, would be too great an expense,” said Anne.
“That only shows how little you know about it, Anne. We are not to stint ourselves, and go into any sort of mean lodgings.”
“Oh, surely not,” cried Mrs. Clay. “My father never had any thought of Sir Walter being any thing but what is very comfortable in Bath, quite as much as at Kellynch. And I believe he knows of some very fine houses. Think of how elegantly we shall be situated! You will be, I should say. I am merely a visitor, I know. I do not forget, nor do I forget my gratitude.” She turned to Elizabeth with a tender smile.
“My dear!” exclaimed Elizabeth, with uplifted hands. “You know we think of you as quite part of the family.”
Anne, who was not accompanying them to Bath, heard this with unease, but was silent.
“Shepherd mentioned one particular house in Camden-place, that I am very eager to see,” said Sir Walter, “it is said to be large, and quite worthy of a man of consequence.”
“We might have had horses there,” said Elizabeth.
“But it was agreed that they should remain at Kellynch, where the Crofts will need them more,” said Anne gently, “and we must remember it is very good of the Crofts to allow us them to be used for this journey to Bath.”
“Good to allow us to use our very own horses! That is one beyond me, Miss Anne,” said her father sarcastically.
“I am sure we shall enjoy the ride very much, being conveyed in such comfort, indeed luxuriousness,” said Mrs. Clay hastily, “and will make a very fine entrance. Only think how the people will stare.”
“Had we better not ascend into the carriage now,” said Elizabeth. “I believe all the boxes and baskets are disposed in their places. There is nothing more to wait for.”
“There is the matter of a take-leave, I believe,” said Anne, “some of the tenants and cottagers are to walk up to the house at nine o’clock, to pay their respects.”
“It is nearly that now,” said Mrs. Clay, “by the church clock; so very nice of them. You did not think for a moment, Sir Walter, that you would be allowed to leave the neighborhood without your own people turning out to do you honour?”
“Oh really, what a bother,” said Elizabeth. “Quite unnecessary. I hope you did not ask them to do this, Anne.”
“Not I,” said Anne truthfully, not looking at Mrs. Clay. She had more than a suspicion that Mr. Shepherd had given a hint that the presence of a few cottagers would be appreciated.
Mrs. Clay seemed to confirm this with the enthusiasm of her response. “A bother! Oh, Miss Elizabeth! Surely one can only feel gratitude to those so far below you, who admire and love you and your father so excessively. You would wish to be gracious, you know, and not hurt their feelings for the world, surely. Only conceive how much they think of you!”
Elizabeth made what sounded like a contemptuous grunt, and Mrs. Clay continued. “There now, do you see? Here comes old Daddy Dodd, dear old man, and all the little Dodds. And the Bewicks, and the Stones, and Farmer Johnson, and Granny Parks. Imagine her getting out of her bed with her rheumatism! But these humble country people do almost worship you, Sir Walter.”
“More than a few are behind on their rent,” he grumbled. “Your father told me he has had trouble collecting lately.”
“I never can bear the poor,” said Elizabeth disdainfully, “I hope they will not get too near.”
“Well, close the carriage door then, my dear. We can wave to them from up here. It is wise to maintain a little distance, a little distance. There, I will bow. Good morning, Dodd, good morning, Mrs. Parks. Good health to you. Coachman, you can proceed now. Let us not prolong this scene. Go along.”
“Farewell. I will see you all when Lady Russell brings me to Bath at Christmas,” said Anne, with a wave to her father and sister, which was not returned. “Goodbye, Miss Anne,” Mrs. Clay remembered to say. The others said nothing, and the carriage drove off.
The villagers scattered, going with alacrity back to their cottages and farmyards. Anne, left alone with her thoughts, slowly began her walk up to the Lodge, where she was to stay with Lady Russell. Her work at Kellynch was done.
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How meanly Anne is treated….as if she is of no consequence. Surprisingly, Mrs. Clay treats Anne better than her own family. Perhaps because Anne sees through her machinations and she is intelligent enough to realize this. I dislike Sir Walter and Anne even more. I enjoyed this chapter and felt mortified for the way Anne was treated.
Thanks for the comment, Deborah. Jane Austen makes it so clear what an unfeeling, vain father and sister Sir Walter and Elizabeth are, and how appallingly they treat Anne. Mrs. Clay, of course, has ulterior motives, and isn’t about to rock the boat by offending anybody!
Jane Austen really created too of the most self-centered and mean people ever. Anne should have moved in with Lady Russell when her mother died and left those two to themselves. I think Mrs. Clay is just being careful that she has a fall-back if things go badly with Elizabeth and Sir Walter. I really enjoyed this chapter. It amazes me how you all our putting this together so seamlessly.
Thanks, Maggie, glad you enjoyed it! Jane Austen certainly did create two almost incredibly selfish, shallow beings in Sir Walter and Elizabeth – there doesn’t seem to be a single ounce of kindness or compassion between them. Several of her villains are like that, and you wonder if she really did know anybody that totally lacking in good qualities! And yet, they are not one-dimensional. What a subtle master of characterization she was. As for the project being put together seamlessly – we are following a timeline, and the device works!
You have peaked my curiosity. A device to create the timeline?
Well, not really a device – I just mean we are following the exact timeline of the events in Persuasion. Not rewriting scenes that Jane Austen did, but scenes as they might have happened just a little bit offstage. For example, Jane Austen says in a sentence or two that the four horses are to take Sir Walter, Elizabeth and Mrs. Clay to Bath, while Anne walks up to Kellynch. So I just expanded a little on her suggestion. But I can’t speak for everyone; other writers on this project take a different approach. Since we all do follow the sequence of events in order, however, they do seem to be blending together nicely, don’t they?
Ok. No device to calculate when events took place. The storyline gives the timeline. I like the expansion of the details not given (as you say offstage scenes). These scenes are making the story richer as you authors (cannot say ladies as Jack is also involved) write these scenes. And, yes they are blending together beautifully. Before you gave us the anticipation of writing these scenes I had never read Persuasion. I have now read it twice, listened to the audio version and am reading the annotated version as these scenes are being written. Thank you so much, all of you, for expanding my horizons and Diana, thank you so much for explaining how the writing is being handled. I am guessing each person is being assigned portions to write? Did you all collaborate to figure out where to add these scenes?
My goodness, Deborah, if our efforts inspired you to read Persuasion, that is wonderful and makes me so happy! You’ll find – well, I’m sure you have already found! – that Jane Austen is so very re-readable. Lots of people read through all her works every year, simply because on each reading they find something new, funny, or wonderful. Our expanding on situations she set up, shows how rich it is, how much there is to work with.
I’m not sure how the “ringleaders” who coordinated this project made their timeline, exactly, but it looks to me like they sat down and wrote a list of the scenes in order, giving them working titles like “Sir Walter Goes to Bath.” That gives us a lot of leeway of what we choose to write. But no, we weren’t “assigned” anything! We were shown the list, and got to pick which scenes attracted us most. That way, people could write what they do best. Those who enjoy writing love scenes, naval scenes, dramatic scenes, could choose those. I like comedy, enjoy Jane Austen’s most grotesque characters, and have been writing about them since I won a contest in 1985 “doing” Mrs. Bates! Then I wrote a bunch of Mrs. Elton stories…and Lady Catherine…and it just keeps going. It’s huge fun and I’m not tired of it yet!
Thank you so much for answering my questions. I have wondered how this was done and your comment gave me the opening to ask the question. I have wondered how this was done since I read P & P 200 which I also found fit beautifully with P & P.
Hilarious, Diana!! Thank you for this!! It gave me a laugh to start the day.
Deborah — sorry, can’t answer your question as I’m not participating in Persuasion200 yet, but I know The Darcy Brothers required a lot of coordination.
Thank you Monica. A lot of coordination and teamwork as well. I thought The Darcy Brothers flowed seamlessly together. Sometimes, if not for the author’s name attached, I would’ve thought it was the same author as the previous week. 🙂
“Do you not suppose my father knows that?” said Elizabeth with scorn. I think Elizabeth doesn’t even like to think let alone acknowledge that Anne is her sister! You have captured the arrogance of Elizabeth and Sir Walter so well and the subservience of Mrs. Clay (something like Mr. Collins but deviousness as well).
Thanks, Carole, good observation that Mrs. Clay has similarities to Mr. Collins – I hadn’t thought of that, but so true. And Collins has a streak of deviousness too, when he scuttles over to Charlotte “with admirable slyness.” I think, though, that Elizabeth saying “my father” instead of “our father” was just standard usage at that time, all the sons and daughters in Austen do that, Edmund talks of “my father” and Jane Bennet of “my mother.” That said, Elizabeth certainly has no value for her sister Anne at all!
Nice job, Diana! Not sure who’s the bigger twit – Sir Walter or Elizabeth!
Love that word “twit”….just the sound of it conveys so much….at least, to me….laughing here! Reminds me of the play on the word “schnapps” by Penny and Leonard in “The Big Bang Theory”. Of course, they were drunk as they kept repeating the word and giggling.
Oh those to are horrid….just want to grab them and shake some sense into them…Mrs Clay shows more respect for Anne than her own family…though she is probably just covering her bases..in case her plans fall through..
Now she heads to Mary, who while not so bad as the other two, still treats her more as a servant that a sister.
Wish Anne’s happy ending was closer but she still have to live through Louisa.
Thanks for the comment, Stephanie. Anne’s sufferings certainly are of long duration!
This was a treat to read, Diana!
Thanks for giving us such insight into Sir Walter and Elizabeth…you captured their self-centered mindset/behavior oh so well 😉 .
Thank you, Marilyn – they asked for it! 🙂
Oh, the odious Elliots! Diana you have captured them perfectly. I loved this episode – brilliant!
Thank you, sparkling Jane!
I’ll echo what everyone has said that you’d really gotten the perfect tone of shallow, condescending, and thoughtlessness that Sir Walter and Elizabeth both exhibit. If there was any doubt about Anne being different from there, that’s been erased! Anne has to be breathing a sigh of relief to be away from their constant and pointless exhibitions! But as someone else commented, now she has to endure her other sister!
Thanks, Cathy! Anne is indeed unfortunate in her family. But don’t forget that Jane Austen tells us Anne felt that Mary was not so repulsive and unsisterly as Elizabeth, so that makes a difference!
Persuasion has long been my favorite, much more so than P&P. I’m so glad to see Persuasion 200 come along. I’ve enjoyed the what ifs and variations that have been done with P&P, just wish there were more done with Persuasion…… and now you have! Jane Austen made it trult difficult to like some of her characters. I wonder were some people really that self centered, haughty, selfish and mean spirited in her time? You certainly have captured the essence of the Elliot’s in this chapter. I’m looking forward to reading “the rest of the story”.
Thanks, Linda – I didn’t think I’d enjoy this project as much as I did P&P200, because I thought Persuasion is less funny than P&P. However, it’s less frequently visited material, and so seems fresher. I’m enjoying it enormously!
These last two chapters have so emphasized how despicable and heartless Sir Walter and Elizabeth truly are! So very hard to keep remembering that Anne is related to these two monsters. To be so good against their meanness! And how they don’t want to hear even a whisper of the true financial difficulty they got themselves into – the house in Bath, having to give up the horses, etc. Anne has to be so relieved that she will not hear their put downs daily or, even, hourly now that they have parted company. And she knows how to cajole Mary out of her moods so that is not as bad, especially as Mary’s moods and words are directed at Charles and his family for the most part. (Although she does get in a dig about Wentworth’s words that he would not have recognized Anne….) But the Musgroves do value Anne so that is comforting.
I hate the way Sir Walter and Elizabeth treated Anne. I hope both get their comeuppance though I very much doubt that. Jane Austen is too kind towards their fate. Anyway I thought the Elliots have already secured an accommodation in Camden Place when they left Kellynch. I could be wrong so I need to re-read Persuasion.
Luthien, the Elliots go to Bath without having yet secured a house. Lady Russell is sure Anne will not be allowed to assist them, and Sir Walter and Elizabeth think that Mrs. Clay will be a great assistant in all the business before them (i.e., taking a house). Perhaps when they went to Bath, they went directly to an inn and did the house-hunting from there. The first mention of Camden Place is when Anne goes to Bath and finds them installed there.
Also don’t forget the Musgroves saying, “Also don’t forget the Musgroves asking, “”So, Miss Anne, Sir Walter and your sister are gone; and what part of Bath do you think they will settle in?”
Thank you very much for the clarification, Diana. I think my understanding of the plot is slightly skewed from remember the two recent adaptations of Persuasion.