The scene below takes place shortly after Commander Wentworth (he isn’t a captain yet) starts paying particular attention to the middle Elliot daughter.
“My, my, my! He’s a handsome one,” Molly, the kitchen maid said, collapsing into her bed in the attic of Kellynch Hall.
“Who’s handsome?” the scullery maid asked as she undressed for bed.
“Why Commander Wentworth, of course! Miss Anne’s suitor. He’s been at table every night for a week! There’d be no other reason for his coming here all day, every day, if it weren’t for Miss Anne. Besides, I seen how he looks at her. I hope someday Jemmy Bishop looks at me that way.”
“Would the commander not be coming here for Miss Elliot, she being the oldest?”
“I can’t imagine anyone coming for Miss Elliot,“ Molly said, giving the younger servant a wink. “Truth to tell, no one would be good enough for her.”
“Do you really think that?” fourteen-year-old Nancy asked Molly, her senior by two years, as she climbed into their shared bed.
“It’s not me who thinks it, but Miss Elliot, and so does Sir Walter.”
“Aye. That’s true enough. Miss Elliot’s the apple of her father’s eye.”
“That’s because she’s the prettiest of the girls, and that man likes pretty. On Sunday, after church, keep an eye on Sir Walter. Before he gets in the carriage, he always looks in the window, checking his cravat or giving his hair a toss. The man can’t never walk by a looking glass without picking it up and admiring what he sees in it.”
Nancy giggled. “Men aren’t supposed to be pretty. They’re supposed to be handsome. And Commander Wentworth is one handsome man!”
“But he’ll not be good enough for Miss Elliot. In her mind, only a man with a title is worthy of her hand, and Commander Wentworth ain’t got one.”
“Do you think Miss Anne is in love with the commander?”
“I ain’t seen Miss Anne this happy since I come here, and that’s four years now. She’s got sunshine in her smiles and a twinkle in her eyes. And if that ain’t love, then I don’t know what is.” Then Molly went quiet. “What I don’t know is what Sir Walter will say if the commander asks if he can marry her.”
A wide-eyed Nancy asked if Molly really thought Sir Walter would actually say ‘no’ to an officer serving in His Majesty’s Navy.
“I’m afraid so,” Molly answered, concern inching into her voice. “The master said something to Lady Russell that Commander Wentworth was too brown for his tastes.”
“Too brown! What does that mean?”
“Sir Walter said that the commander was well on his way to becoming a walnut just like Admiral Baldwin, whoever he is when he’s at home. He said sea-faring men are knocked about in all kinds of weather until they’re not fit to be seen—or at least that’s what Tom said from listening when he was waiting at table.”
“If Miss Anne loves Commander Wentworth, I hope she gets to marry him. She’s been ever so nice to me. When I was here just a few days, she asked how I was getting on with Mrs. Brooks. Of course, I didn’t tell her that Cook works us pretty hard. What’s important is that she thought to ask. No one has ever done that before.”
“And if you don’t hear it from Miss Anne, you never will hear it,” Molly said. “If he’s going to make her an offer, Commander Wentworth will have to do it soon. From what Tom said, he’s only just waiting to be given a ship before he’s off.”
“If they get married, will he take Miss Anne with him?”
“First things first, Nancy. He’s got to get past Sir Walter, and Lady Russell will have a say as well. She always does.”
“You’d best be careful that no one hears you talking about the master or Lady Russell like that. You’ll be in trouble.”
“I’d be in more than trouble. I’d get the boot right in my backside. And when I got home, I’d be in even more trouble. My father would take a switch to me for losing my place.” Molly turned on her side and asked Nancy to blow out the candle. “Five o’clock comes early.”
Comments are always appreciated. I have written a Persuasion “what if,” Captain Wentworth Home from the Sea. It is available for $2.99 on Nook and Kindle. Here is a summary: In 1806, Frederick Wentworth returned to the sea in hopes of leaving behind memories of Anne Elliot of Kellynch Hall. After eight years serving as the captain of the Laconia, he has failed to jettison recollections of the only woman he could ever love, that is, until a shipboard accident robs him of his memory. When he is once again thrown into Anne’s company, he knows nothing of their previous engagement. With the slate wiped clean, will Anne Elliot be able to secure the love of Captain Frederick Wentworth or will all opportunities to reclaim a lost love be denied her?
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I think Sir Walter is pretty clueless, but the servants certainly know what’s going on between Anne and Wentworth! This was fun to read, Mary. 🙂
Author
Sir Walter IS clueless, but he makes for comic relief. Thank you for your comment and for sharing.
Enjoyed this very much. Everyone, except those who have a say in Anne’s future, see how happy Wentworth makes Anne and want them to be together. Too bad she isn’t 21, so she’d be of age to make her own decisions. Thank you for an interesting storyline.
Author
Thanks, Deborah. I’m positive the servants were always pulling for Miss Anne.
I like the downstairs people giving us their perspective. It is a great idea and it reinforces the plot line in a subtle way in case anyone has forgotten certain points. It reminds us of what the Elliot’s are like, and foreshadows Anne’s future unhappiness. The upstairs people are clueless and not supportive of Anne. I always thought of Lady Russell as interfering and officious and not much concerned with Anne’s happiness. Her father and sister are ridiculous and act less like people, and more like caricatures. The story is moving along nicely. Sir Walter always makes me cringe whenever he opens his mouth. Much like Mr. Collins, he has nothing sensible to say, and he is obsessed with his own perceived status, and that of others. Dreadful man!
Author
I agree, Mari. Being a baronet probably made Sir Walter a lot more obnoxious than he would otherwise have been. I think Austen wanted us to think that Lady Russell was a true friend of Anne’s, but when seen through modern eyes, her intervention seems officious. And it costs Anne eight years of happiness.
Lovely, Mary! I enjoyed this so much-love your writing!!!
Author
Thank you, Jane. Glad you enjoyed it.
This was lovely, Mary. You have captured the two serving maids’ voices really well, I could picture them lying in their shared bed whispering like this!
Such a shame we know what’s coming and just how wise Molly the kitchen maid is!
Author
When you think of how tied up the servants’ lives were with those of their masters, you can imagine how most of their conversation would have been about the people above stairs.
Portrayed just right. Sad to recollect that children were forced into service back then and considered themselves fortunate to have a “position”. But in hearing them talk about Anne, makes one remember also good people were noticed by people “below” them, testifying to their true worth. Thank you for the chapter.
Author
Thank you, Sheila. As someone from a long line of Irish peasants, I know that if I had been alive at that time, I would have worked in the scullery or the laundry, so I am always sympathetic to those below stairs.
Thanks for the different point of view. I hope there will be more servants’ gossip as you all move the story along. As was said above, they know what’s going on!
Author
Hi, Leslie. I remember watching Upstairs, Downstairs in the 1970s and how the Bellamy family would speak in French so the servants wouldn’t understand what was going on, but they always figured it out.
That was lovely. Two teenage servant girls with more sense than the master and Lady Russell! 🙂 So glad to hear them speak so highly of Anne’s kind disposition.
Author
Hi, Eileen. I think a walnut has more sense than Sir Walter. 🙂 I have to believe that the servants were on Anne’s side, or it would have been just too sad.
What a wonderful peek at the downstairs gossip! Thanks for this. I love that you’ve picked up on the line from the book about Sir Walter thinking that naval men are too “brown.”
Author
Hi, Susan. I’m much more of a below stairs girl. In my parody, Anne Elliot, a New Beginning, I have one line where Frederick is protesting the lack of respect for the navy, and he says: “What has brown done for you!” from the UPS commercial. 🙂
Always interesting to see what the servants think! I can just picture them laughing over Sir Walter’s vanity.
Author
HI, Abigail. I think the fact that I’m from a long line of Irish peasants and coal miners puts me on the “below stairs” team. Thanks for stopping by.
Mary – Have you read “Longbourn” which is about the servants at Longbourn during the same time frame as P&P?
Author
Susan, I haven’t, and I’m sure it would be interesting. I’ve switched gears and am now researching an 1888 train wreck in PA.
Thanks, Mary, for a fun downstairs story line! Too bad their concerns for Anne will prove true!
Author
Thanks, Kara.
I definitely think the servants would all like Miss Anne and want her to be happy. Even if she didn’t go out of her way to be kind to them, just the fact she isn’t obnoxious like the rest of her family makes her a peach.
Thanks, Mary!
Author
For a servant, just being noticed must have been huge! I agree that it must have been nice to have Anne around and not just the whining Mary and stuck-up Elizabeth.
You’ve pegged the characters perfectly! The servants would notice the true nature of the family. I do wonder why Anne’s mother married Sir Walter in the first place – such a vain man! And I wonder if Lady Russell ever regretted her advice to Anne, ever really knew how sad Anne was during those eight long years…
Author
I’ve wondered about the marriage myself. Why would a woman as sensible as Lady Elliot marry such a vain man. Maybe she was blinded by a pretty boy. I keep thinking that if Austen had more time to work on Persuasion, she would have answered a lot of these questions.
I always love it when the servants viewpoint is added. They may have been “invisible” to Sir Walter and Elizabeth, but they were surely not to Anne. I had to laugh at your “coming from a long line of Irish peasants” comment. I wouldn’t have even been present because I’m American Indian…LOL We were busy getting abused on THIS side of the pond. O:-)
I’ve always wondered (like June) if Lady Russell ever wished she had just let Anne go and have a shot at happiness. Probably not though. Better to be safe and unhappy in the bosom of your family than running pell mell around the world with a sailor of no distinction or fortune!!
Author
I know what you mean. When my first relations came to America, “Irish need not apply” signs were everywhere. Of course, they didn’t know how to read! I think Lady Russell was just enamored of being the wife of a knight and having a baronet as a friend. She had tunnel vision.
Delightful and well done perspective! Yes, the servants always knew more of what was going on than the ‘upperstairs’ did themselves! Vanity thy name is Sir Walter! Thank you!
Author
Thanks, Carole. Can you imagine working/living with someone as vain as Sir Walter!
The servants seem to have got the characters of Sir Walter, Elizabeth and Anne down to a T. It’s always seemed to me that the gentry/aristocracy appear to treat servants a bit like part of the furniture or, even worse, as wallpaper at times. However, I also reckon that the good servants would always listen to and see what was going on but not gossip about it, except among themselves, whereas those who passed on what they’d learned to other households might not last very long if it got back to their masters.
I expect Anne was a lot kinder and more considerate to them than any other members of the family, which is why they like her so much. Mary was probably a bit of a nightmare before she married as she’s so conscious of her status.
I’d more than likely have been one of the servants 200 years ago, as I’m from definitely blue collar stock. Dad left school at 14 to become an engineering apprentice but eventually rose to management and Mum worked for a firm of tailors until I came along. Probably middle class now as hubby and I were the first members of our families to go to University, now have four University degrees between us and son is about to graduate from Uni. How times change!
Author
Anji, I agree. We have come so far. My father’s grandfather was killed in the mines. His father was a mule driver, and my dad graduated magna cum laude from the University of Scranton. And I became a published author! Who could have imagined such things.
I like to read the servants’ opinion on what is going on in the house as they get to freely talk about just about anyone. Privately of course unless they want the butler, housekeeper and cook hear them talking about the people upstairs disparagingly.