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Posted on Tuesday, 26 September 2006
Frederick took possession of the dressing room next to Anne's room with the same speed with which his sister and brother had taken possession of the house, yet he managed to preserve method and order in his piles of clothes. Anne was intrigued, even more so by the miscellaneous items he laid on the dressing table. It would occupy no more than one drawer! The contrast to her father was great.
There were but a few private opportunities. Edward came to see what they were doing and he installed himself in such a place as to be very much in the way. Anne had not yet been his sister for long enough to dare to tell him to help or move, but Frederick did. "Have you nothing better to do than be in the way?" he asked.
"No. I am bored and the door was open."
"Where is your wife?"
"She is helping to bathe the babies."
"Oh!" Anne would like to help, but she was busy. She looked indecisive. Sophia needed more help than Frederick and their agreeable private interactions were ruined by Edward anyhow, but Sophia already had assistance.
"They are going to bathe more often, given how proficient they are at soiling themselves," said Frederick. He did not want her to go. He could get a servant to help, but Anne's assistance and interest were more gratifying. To him it meant that she really wanted him there, not that she merely did not have any objections.
"True, I suppose, but I think it is adorable."
"Bathing me is more adorable," he whispered to her.
She dropped the armful of stockings she was holding and stared at him. Bathing him was more adorable. She could not even imagine how it was done, let alone why he wished it done.
"Truly," he grinned. He had no idea what had motivated him to make such a comment and he already felt like modifying it a little. "But only if you want to."
Anne looked at the stockings on the floor. They were a mess. "Oh, your stockings," she commented without knowing what she said.
"Do you also bathe fully dressed?" he asked, hoping such whispers would drive Edward away.
Anne blushed fiercely. "Frederick!" She bent over to pick up his stockings, slowly. There must be something she could say, such as yes or no. It was such a simple question and the answer to it was equally simple.
"No?" His expression was hopeful enough to be disconcerting.
Anne pressed some stockings into his hands and darted out of the room. She hoped Edward had not seen her face. Frederick had some interesting plans, but she could not instantly react to them.
"Cad!" said Edward. He began to wonder if he was in the way.
"They react differently to cads, you know." Frederick did not precisely know, but suspected they would give in to a cad instantly and jump into his bath if they could. They would not bolt from the room in surprise. At least Anne had not run away in disgust, as far as he could tell. "Besides, you do not know what I said."
"Obviously it was something rakish."
"Oh, allow me some fun, you old married man. You never provoke your wife anymore, of course. If you ever did so at all." It would amuse him very much to imagine Edward saying similar things.
To that Edward gave no answer. Wisely, he thought. It was none of Frederick's business.
"Ha ha! See that you do!" That very capably got rid of Edward, something he ought to remember in the future.
Dinner was nothing out of the ordinary and Sophia was again called away for nursing duties afterwards. There was a little music and then they all retired. Although Anne was happy that she was now finally married, everything else was much the same as before. Her new family did not suddenly treat her differently. They must have gradually come to treat her as a sister, because she did not notice a change in their behaviour. She felt grateful for their easy acceptance.
The greatest difference in Frederick had been immediately after his return, so there too there were no real changes anymore. Some of his private comments could make her blush nevertheless, but since they were merely comments and not actions, she secretly admitted to enjoying them.
"I hope you do not want to take a bath before bedtime," Anne said nervously when they had entered her room -- their room. They had not spoken of bathing again and he might still have his wild plan. She had given it some thought and decided that if she liked what she had seen of her husband so far, she would probably like the rest of him as well and if he wanted to be bathed, bathed he would be, but she would remain fully dressed.
"No, nor do I want you to bathe."
"What do you want?" she managed to ask.
"Sleep," he said after studying her face. "At this point we are still going to behave similarly to the first time they forced me to carry you." He had tried to lift her then and made a mess of it. Even the second time he had been tense and afraid of dropping her. He felt much the same now.
"You too?"
"Yes, I do not want to drop you."
Anne relaxed enough to kiss him. "I was afraid of being dropped." And she felt guilty for having been a little afraid.
"I know. See?" he said, touching her lips. "That instant change of expression into something much happier." He preferred a happier Anne, one who was happy enough to kiss him of her own volition. She would once offer to bathe him too. He knew she would. And he was glad Anne proceeded in a thoughtful and careful manner. She would not do anything either of them regretted.
"I am very happy to be married, though. So quickly. I hope your brothers were not disappointed that we did not take them." She had not detected any disappointment in anybody, but she could not be certain.
He did not think they were disappointed. "They are your brothers now too and they are happy we are finally out of trouble and they do not have to keep an eye on our cuddling anymore."
"I do not like people keeping an eye on our cuddling. It is ours."
"Indeed. Had you ever imagined you would reach up and kiss me?" Frederick wondered. He had only lately been imagining that she would dare and it was very pleasant. It was certainly more satisfying to know she loved him so much that she would do so than to have her merely return a kiss.
"Only recently, after I failed to do so when you left for Shropshire. You cannot mind. You keep trying to provoke me into doing worse things."
"Yes, they are terribly bad," he said teasingly. "But they are less bad if you take the initiative, because you would never do anything wrong."
Sir Walter Elliot had been informed of his daughter's impending elopement, naturally, but he had received this news in stunned silence. It was not only that he could not betray his reaction in front of a servant, but also that he simply did not have one.
"There is someone who wishes to elope with my daughter," he had remarked in astonishment to Elizabeth. "Was he speaking of you?"
"I am sure some would like to, but I am all for denying them that pleasure. Who was this person?"
"Then it was not you?" He had thought for a second. "Perhaps he meant to elope with Anne. She is not married either."
"With Anne?" She had sounded equally sceptical. "Where did you hear this?"
"This man…" He had handed her the card. "Was apparently here to inform me of it."
"But you did not receive him?" Elizabeth had frowned as she turned the card over in her hands. It was an elegant card. She would approve of it in principle, but her full approval depended on the name and preferably title printed on it. A captain in the Navy could not quite inspire such approval.
"Obviously not! Who is he? I cannot receive everyone who happens to call." He could not imagine that people expected him to be available at all times for everybody. That was simply preposterous.
"And this Captain Wentworth left the message that he would elope with Anne because you would not see him?"
"Quite odd."
"Indeed." There were more oddities than Elizabeth had instantly been able to grasp -- a captain, eloping with Anne, calling here.
"The nerve. I can hardly believe it. Elizabeth, is this not the same man who wished to marry her years ago? Or is she simply some target for all kinds of undistinguished Navy officers who hope to acquire some decent connections through me? The nerve. I can hardly believe so many men would be interested in Anne, although she almost looked pretty when she was here last."
"I have not bothered to remember his name," she had replied coldly. "He was nobody. I cannot imagine someone like that would try again after having rightfully been discouraged."
"Then you do not think there is any truth in the report?" Sir Walter had wished very much that there was not. He had wondered what he would be expected to do if Anne eloped with somebody. He did not have the time to do anything.
"Very likely not. Is it not highly improbable?"
"He got knocked on the head in a sailors' brawl," Sir Walter had decided. His wishes guided him. "Yes, he did and then he mistakenly thought he could marry Anne."
"I advise you to ignore the message, Father," Elizabeth had replied. "What a fool you would look to our acquaintance if you were to take seriously a report that your daughter might marry a sailor. Think of our cousins."
That was certainly a fact that carried much weight with him and thus Sir Walter had been resolved to forget the incident.
In going about his usual work Mr Shepherd, however, came to hear something he felt might interest Sir Walter. One Captain Wentworth had settled rather a large sum on the Miss Anne Elliot he was about to marry. He passed on this information. "Is your daughter's name not Anne, Sir Walter?"
It was, but the figure mentioned made him dazzle. He had never thought of such a sum in connection to his middle daughter. "And who is this Captain Wentworth?" he asked suspiciously. "Are there not a few zeros too many in that sum?"
"I have made inquiries on your behalf, naturally, but there are not. This is indeed the sum the captain can and will settle on Miss Anne Elliot." He gave a few more particulars of Captain Wentworth's successes and his fortune to prove that the sum must be correct.
Sir Walter digested this with great astonishment.
"But were you not aware of his intentions?" asked Mr Shepherd, who thought he was aware of anything concerning the Elliots. This, however, had passed him by entirely, although when he was told he had pretended to know all about it.
Sir Walter remained silent, whether he remembered Captain Wentworth's message or not. He did not have the power to speak.
"Anne?" Elizabeth asked jealously. It would be difficult for her to make a better match financially, but at least she would not stoop to marrying a naval officer.
"I was told Captain Wentworth is a brother of Mrs Croft, the wife of Admiral Croft who rents Kellynch," Mr Shepherd said. He had never been in doubt as to who Miss Anne Elliot was, but this additional information must convince the sceptics.
"Of Admiral Croft!" Sir Walter echoed stupidly. "And his wife has a wealthy brother who wishes to marry Anne? Why is that?"
"Any of your daughters would be a splendid match," Mr Shepherd said after some reflection.
That was a true thing and Sir Walter was glad the captain's motives were so easily explicable. He forgot to think about Anne's. "Of course. And what of him? Can we be seen with him?"
"You would not be ashamed to be seen with him, Sir Walter," Mr Shepherd assured him. "He is a handsome gentleman. A good match for your daughter, certainly. And you know how it is with those captains, they act quickly and fear no one."
"By that I suppose you mean they are already married?"
Posted on Friday, 29 September 2006
"I am hungry," Frederick realised when his stomach rumbled.
Anne turned her head to look at the clock. That it was light enough in the room to see it must mean it was not very early anymore. "Breakfast is in twenty minutes," she was a little surprised to note.
"I thought as much. I have been awake for hours." And apparently he had spent hours doing very little.
"I suppose we ought to get up then. We have amused ourselves long enough." She sounded a little regretful at having to give up her comfortable position.
"Ah, did you amuse yourself then, Mrs Wentworth?" He was pleased to hear it, although he had already known. Her smiles had been sufficient.
"It surprises me that you would have continued your attentiveness to me without being absolutely certain of that," she said archly.
"You were in charge," Frederick reminded her. "I am less fragile."
"Fragile!" Anne jumped out of bed indignantly, although she knew exactly what he meant. He did not react to every touch, but she did, although that did not mean she broke at every touch. "I am not a fine fragile lady."
"Sensitive?" he tried. "With a broken arm as well. I have to treat you with care."
"True," she admitted. "And you are very sweet and very good, but you must get up, or people will think odd things."
He laughed at her. "There is proof that the old and married people in this house have taken those odd things a little further themselves. Help me out."
As she bent over him to pull him up, he pulled her down. She squealed.
"That was too easy," he said, looking and sounding very pleased with himself. "Before we get up I wanted to say that this was an infinitely more pleasant way to spend the night in your room than sitting at a table. Thank you. If it continues to be so pleasant I may have to change my mind."
"I can imagine several things about which you could change your mind. Which one?" She studied him thoughtfully.
"Several! I can think of only one on which I have not spoken to your liking."
Only one! The confident tone in which this was spoken could not fail to make Anne chuckle. "Oh. That would narrow the range of possibilities down considerably."
"Could you imagine me changing my mind to something less to your liking?"
"Perhaps if you did not know what I thought of it precisely, but what is this particular case?"
Frederick glanced at the clock first. That it was twenty minutes until breakfast had been a bit generous, he supposed, because it was now closer to fifteen. He had best not start discussing this particular case. "It is interesting that we are now in a situation that is the reverse of when I went to Bath," he observed. "You are on the bed and I am in it and I am going to remind you of your plans for the day."
"Breakfast?"
"You have a lovely nightgown, but perhaps you would not like to have breakfast in it."
"It is my prettiest one, but I suppose you are right." She did not yet move. She could stay here for another second.
"Anne, if you do not dress yourself immediately, I am going to do it for you." He counted on her beginning to do it herself now.
Still she did not move, but she gave him a pensive stare. "And do you think that would be quicker?"
"Anne, for someone who was only a minute ago fearing that people would think strange things if we were late to breakfast, you are behaving very oddly."
"That is because I am very safely on top of the blanket and you are under it." It made her a little more daring. She could say anything and he could do nothing.
"It would not cost me all that much effort to lift you, blanket and all, and drop you beside the bed," Frederick warned her. "I will not do so, but do not think you are safe from me because of some silly blanket. Thirteen minutes. Will you manage?"
"I suppose I must," she said regretfully. "Will you?"
"I am a man."
Men could indeed get ready in thirteen minutes, especially men who had to prove they could and who were not distracted by women changing in the same room. Instead of being the centre of attention at breakfast, which she had feared, Anne discovered that the Crofts had written back and that their letter was of greater interest than scrutinising the behaviour of newlyweds and their slightly late arrival. Nobody had ever cared about punctuality before, but she had been afraid they might do so this morning. However, only two of the four others were already present and those two did not care at all.
"They will come over," Admiral Croft announced with a grin. He was very pleased with that unexpected interest in his offspring.
"That is not what it says!" Sophia cried. "It cannot be. You are making that up to rile me."
"Why should I do so? My dear Sophy, I could think of better things." He handed her the letter. "See for yourself."
Anne found they hardly cared that Frederick and she slid into their chairs. She kept an eye on Sophia, whose expression turned rather funny upon reading.
"They are serious!" she said in astonishment. "James?"
"I told you."
"Have you read till the end?" Sophia asked with a frown.
"No, I let you have the letter." It had been very good of him, he thought, to hand it over as soon as he could to end her questions.
"It mentions your son here. Which son is that, James Frederick? Do they think we had triplets? Do they think you have another wife?"
"Oh, come here," he said and settled her on his knee so he could read over her shoulder. "What would I do with another wife? I have no idea what they mean. I know as little of a son as you do."
Sophia continued reading. "Ah, now I see. We have not yet had this son, but they assume we will. He will inherit The Ruin and take away the need for anyone else to marry. My dear, can you not cure them of this misconception? I do not understand them. First they are disgusted that something happened and now they wish for it to happen again. And you told me we shall not have another."
"I do indeed not expect we shall have another," he replied calmly. "The chances are really small, not to mention that the chances of that really small chance being a boy are even smaller."
"That is not what you said before." He had said he would not even try. She leant back against him to ponder this change in his plans.
"I do not think I made any rational remarks on the subject before. Do remember the two occasions on which this was discussed." The first time he had been rather overcome by hearing she was expecting and he had agreed to anything she begged for and the second time, with the birth barely over, he had merely retracted his word because he never wanted to see it again.
Sophia gave him a smile. She remembered indeed. "But are you telling me you once made remarks that were not completely rational? I always tell everybody you are very calm."
Frederick thought that a good moment to lean towards Anne. "Precisely what were you afraid of? That these people would think our behaviour odd?"
She giggled. "Perhaps you are right."
Her giggles alerted the admiral to their presence. Perhaps he wished to prove Sophia right by resisting the temptation to cuddle her at the breakfast table. "Frederick, what was your mother's name?"
"Do you -- that you would dare to ask that question when Sophia has a knife in her hand amazes me." He could not see her do anything more dangerous than cutting a roll of bread, but that was beside the point.
"I now know Sophia has plans with me for which she needs me in perfect health and with an unblemished physique. I am safe," he spoke confidently.
Then it was his own fault if he got himself hurt, Frederick decided. "My mother's name was also Sophia."
"But that is an S." And that fact seemed to puzzle the admiral greatly.
"Who said my husband was illiterate?" Sophia wondered.
"Uncultured," Edward corrected from the doorway. "I did and he was not your husband then. And uncultured is not illiterate. I suppose he must write logbooks and letters."
"With perfect rhyme and metre," the admiral nodded.
"How would you know what metre is?"
"It is one of those things everybody knows. But if Sophia's mother's name started with an S, I am still no closer to discovering what I named my children."
"If you want double names because they are Crofts, you have one of the four names," Sophia commented calmly, although she was not at all sure what he wanted. "Three to go."
"Why do you not know what you named your own children?" asked Edward, to whom this discussion was seemingly entirely new. "I do not understand."
"Your sister will not tell me."
"I feed you," she said, letting him take a bit of the roll she had buttered. "But your mind and memory are your own responsibility."
Edward gave Frederick a commiserating look. "Have you a better subject to talk about? Sophia, could you get off his lap?" Such a sight was disturbing his breakfast.
"Yes, I could, but considering that I spend a large part of my day playing mother, I now want to play baby." After all the holding and comforting she wanted to be held herself. It did not seem so very strange to her.
Edward moved his chair so he had his back towards them. "I cannot watch that."
After breakfast Edward went to see how Amelia was doing and the other two also had something vague to do. This left Anne at liberty to spend some time with Frederick, but she first wished to call on Lady Russell to say she was married. "I think you should come," she said to Frederick.
"Are you not afraid I am going to bare some of myself again?"
Frederick had an intriguing way of not removing his trousers until he had his nightgown on, with a reverse action in the morning. Anne had begun to think he did not bare himself as easily as it had appeared, not even to his wife. She had watched him, but she had not spoken. An explanation occurred to her now. "Do you have more tattoos than the one you showed me?"
"No. Why?"
She blushed. "Because you kept everything so neatly covered up."
He had done that indeed, but he had done so for another reason. He had thought she would be glad, not suspicious. It had been out of consideration and some degree of modesty, and not to hide anything. "Because you did not want to bathe me."
No, not yet. "When is your next bath?"
"Not a clever question," Frederick mused. "What a dilemma if I said tonight."
"Tonight! I think not. You may well tease me, but you cannot yet act upon it." And he would not be so cruel as to change his plans merely to see her squirm.
"You know me too well. Teasing you is still quite satisfactory." He gave Anne a serious glance. It somehow seemed something to which they could never return if they progressed too quickly. He would then not say these things anymore and she would not react this way. No, this was a pleasure that could only be had in their present state. He was all for letting that run its natural course.
"You are waiting until I offer to bathe you, are you not? Speaking purely theoretically, should I get wet if I bathed you?"
He smiled at her purely theoretical question. "That depends on what you would do and where you would sit."
"Even those babies splashed me. And how would you know you would like it?"
"Oh Anne, the more curious questions you ask, the more I am convinced I am going to like it very much indeed -- although perhaps it is as with so many things, that most of the pleasure is in the anticipation."
"Yes, you might find I am very bad at it."
"Yes," he said, sounding unconvinced. "Although you would only be bad at it if you did it too soon. It requires very little skill."
"This is again purely theoretical, but could you bathe me today? Not would you, but could you?"
"There is bathing and bathing." One was for washing; one was for fun. If she took a dive into the mud and broke her other arm, he would certainly bathe her.
"I mean the sort of bathing you have been speaking of all along."
"Yes, I could," Frederick said after a moment. "But that is because I have seen an undressed woman and a half before."
Anne stopped walking. "Where?" she whispered.
"Well, perhaps neither counted. One was my niece. The other…well, one came running out of a burning house once. It was quite awful."
"Was she on fire?"
He blinked, as if that was a very odd question. "No. Ugly."
Posted on Monday, 2 October 2006
"That is odd. In spite of all the places you have been you have seen fewer women than I have men," Anne had remarked, but although this had been intended as an innocent observation, Frederick had considered it reason enough to force her to walk another round before they called at Kellynch Lodge.
He breathed easier when she mentioned her two nephews. "Tease. I was beginning to be worried about the neighbourhood here."
"Only about the neighbourhood? Not about me?"
"Well, you could help it as little as I could if someone ran out of a house with nothing on, straight at you," he complained. Although he would not seek such encounters, sometimes they sought him.
"Oh dear, straight at you?" Anne looked interested. "Did you give her your coat?"
"What! No! I am afraid my companion was not as charitable as that. He told me to run away as fast as we could."
She began to have a suspicion. "Now your companion would not by any chance have been…"
"Yes. Not only did he run, but he said something utterly disrespectful, for which, of course, I had the greatest respect at the time because I was fifteen. He furthermore believed the sight would put us off matrimony forever and you know what happened a short while later."
"He betrayed this misogynist covenant with your sister," Anne said gravely.
"Exactly."
Lady Russell had an excellent network of spies. "Captain and Mrs Wentworth," she greeted. It was unclear how much trouble it cost her to speak those words.
Anne beamed at hearing herself thus address. "Yes."
Lady Russell gave them very proper congratulations, although those to Anne were a trifle warmer. "I was informed you were married yesterday. I think I saw you come back from the church -- although at the time I did not know where you had gone -- but was Mrs Croft not well? I saw her being carried." She turned to Captain Wentworth to include him in the conversation. He was now married to Anne and they should learn to converse without awkwardness. Anne would prefer that.
"She was a little tired and torturing herself with thoughts of her hungry babes," Frederick replied. "I thought it would be quicker to help her. She would have managed on her own, but a little slower. She would like to be recovered, but I doubt she is."
"Did your brothers not want to attend?"
He wondered why she was not speaking to Anne, but to him. He was forced to answer now. "Their own weddings differed so much from one another that they each tried to convince me theirs was the proper way to do it. I left them to that discussion and went to the church."
"I thought Sir Walter might have preferred you to marry in Bath," Lady Russell said cautiously. " Did he not say anything? He could of course never travel here while someone else was in residence at Kellynch Hall." He would never take a secondary room, nor would he be satisfied with staying elsewhere. If he had wished to see Anne get married, he would have asked her to do so in Bath.
Frederick glanced at Anne for her permission to mention her father. She gave him a nod, so he spoke. "He would not see me and consequently I have no idea what he might have preferred."
That shocked Lady Russell. "He…"
That she said he and not you encouraged him. "I called twice. Once he was said to be out and once he was said not to be receiving. I thought calling twice was…enough. Perhaps I should have stated my purpose while I called, but I am afraid I do not completely understand people who are home and who refuse to receive someone who has already called earlier." He shrugged. "I left a message with the footman."
"Oh." Lady Russell visibly did not expect much good from such a message.
"You are quite right to doubt. I told him I had no choice but to elope with Sir Walter's daughter and that Mrs Wentworth would write him a letter -- although I never intended to elope at all."
"But did you say Anne?" Anne wondered suddenly. Her father had two unmarried daughters and he might have been confused. If Frederick had not mentioned her name, her father might have thought of Elizabeth first.
"No, but who else -- but surely a chat with your sister would clear that up?" He frowned. "I am not used to not being received. And I assumed that my card with my name on it would be enough to let him know why I came."
Anne hoped so, but she could not be certain her father remembered the name. "I shall have to write a letter later."
"He ought to have remembered your name," Lady Russell said thoughtfully. "Yes, I think he should have. Anne, did you…miss his opinion?"
Anne shook her head. "But I know that Frederick will take more of an interest in the affairs of his daughters."
He gave her a half smile and walked to the window to allow them to discuss Sir Walter in private, in case they thought that necessary. He pondered having daughters and seeing them married. It was too far ahead to imagine well.
"How do you feel, Anne?" Lady Russell asked as she leant forward to be able to speak more softly.
"I am very happy."
Yes, she could see that. "Did everything go well?"
"It took so little time that it could hardly go wrong! Although when we got back the babies were almost as hungry as Sophia had feared. She cannot leave them for very long."
"Then you might be of use to her, if you could do some of the things she has no time to do, and she will not mind." Lady Russell would have preferred Anne to be mistress of her own house, but if this arrangement allowed her to stay at Kellynch it might do as well.
"She would not mind in any case. All this living in other places and honestly, she knows I should hardly be a tyrant. And the admiral would only mind if I took his gig too often, but in that case Frederick could buy another one."
"You a tyrant!" Lady Russell exclaimed. "No, I do not suppose she could fear that. And what will your husband do? I do not suppose Admiral Croft is kept busy by his daughters."
"I do not think he had much to do with the running of the house before," Anne replied. "And with daughters he will do even less. I do not know what Frederick will do all day. We have no children yet to keep us busy."
"Thankfully."
"He may not always have a perfect judgement, but in that matter he would never err. Besides, he takes my lead."
It was inconceivable to Lady Russell that someone like Captain Wentworth would be content to take Anne's lead. She could not even imagine Anne taking it. "Ladies do not lead in these matters," she said in an unsteady voice.
"He thinks it only fair that I have a say in what happens to me. I can only agree. And I do not take a real lead. I do not tell him what to do." He did not tell her what to do either, so they must have found a happy medium.
"Well, I am pleased to hear that. I think. You deserve to be treated well and not to be miserable the morning after your wedding."
"His pride would forbid such a thing." Anne did not think he would take her misery lightly, because he would consider it a personal failure.
"And what of your father?" Sir Walter's conduct did not meet with her approval. He had not travelled here in haste at all to make sure his daughter did not elope. He had not even written to make inquiries. He had been completely silent and indifferent.
Anne looked uncertain. "I do not know. I shall write, but there is nothing he can do -- or could do."
"He could show some interest in you, perhaps."
"But I am fine." Her father's interest could not affect her happiness. She was happy enough without it.
"Captain," Lady Russell raised her voice. "Will you go to Bath with Anne some day to see her father?"
"Er…" He was taken aback by the question, but he felt he should answer it honestly. "If she wishes. I shall not press for it."
Lady Russell had not really expected any other answer. "Now, I have something for you," she said to Anne. "Wait here."
Anne would not leave the house while the hostess was out of the room, so she looked a little bemused at the order. "Are you comfortable by the window?" she asked Frederick. He had not come back, but she could not imagine he was truly interested in the gardens of Kellynch Lodge, elegant though they were.
"As comfortable as I could be under the circumstances. Have you finished discussing fathers and husbands?"
"How do you know…"
"A mere guess. Everything else can be discussed in front of me, can it not? But I do not know your father well and I know nothing about female matters either." He would wait until they had finished.
Anne joined him. "You will in fifteen years. Then you will know as much as I do, about me especially."
"Does it take fifteen years to learn all about you?"
"Fifteen days, perhaps. But it was the admiral's argument to persuade me to tell him what Sophia had whispered to me. He had been taking an interest in female matters for longer than I had, he said."
"He took no interest in them whatsoever before Sophia! He ran from them."
"Why did he not run from her?"
"We are difficult to resist," Frederick said with a grave look.
Lady Russell returned with a small box. She carried it over to Anne. "These belonged to your mother and she wanted you to have them when you married. She gave them to me to keep them for you, because she feared you might not get them otherwise."
Anne looked surprised.
"She feared Elizabeth or Mary would want them and you would let them, but she knew Elizabeth would have more than her share without these." She opened the box.
Anne took out the necklace without breathing. It was not its prettiness that kept her silent, nor that of the matching earrings and bracelet, because their simple elegance was at first sight not at all stunning. She was more affected by her mother's wish and her knowledge of their characters.
After such a visit Anne could not immediately see any other people. She requested a walk through the gardens to recover, for her red eyes might inspire questions. "Do you think my mother could come back like you?" she asked in spite of knowing the answer.
"I wish I could arrange that for you," Frederick said quietly. "She knew you well and she loved you very much. The only one in your family. She would be pleased to see you welcomed into a family who will all appreciate you."
"Will they?"
"Yes, they will and I will love you and hopefully give you some little girls who will all love you very much."
"Not boys?"
"I thought all women wanted daughters. But we shall take whatever we get, I suppose. Even if there are none, you will have me." He drew her behind a tree and kissed her.
His words and actions were as convincing as he had undoubtedly intended them to be. She smiled happily, although such actions in any other park would have worried her. "I must thank you for your civility to Lady Russell."
He had indeed tried to be civil and not found it as difficult as he had imagined. They shared something, after all. "She loves you. I hope she will come to understand that I love you too and that my ways of expressing it are different from hers."
Anne's mouth quivered. "Do you mean kissing? I speak well of you at all times, but she must still overcome her preconceived notions of sailors."
"Some are bad, some are good, just like any other class of men."
"Mine is good," Anne said in satisfaction.
He smiled. "Even when he teases you about bathing."
"Would you bathe me just as well as you brush my hair?" she said in a moment of insanity. "As Sophia put it, I now want to play baby."
"Did I do that well?" Frederick was a little anxious despite almost being certain that he had done it well indeed. It did not require any skills, only devotion.
"Yes. It is a pity the water cools so soon." Anne sat by the fire and ran a hand through her hair to separate the wet strands. She was not sure she was supposed to give such an enthusiastic answer, but it seemed to please Frederick. She might be a little timid, but she could never lie.
"You are not terribly large. It is perfectly possible to bathe all of you before the water grows cold." He shivered. He had quickly learnt to take off his shirt if he did not want it to become soaked, but it was cold either way. "And before I grow cold. I have not finished yet, though."
"No?"
Frederick clicked his tongue in dismay. "You keep wanting to have breakfast in your nightgown and dinner in your dressing gown."
"I did not know that dressing me was also part of the bath ritual." He had of course given her a dressing gown, but she would have thought his assistance ended there.
"I do not leave my tasks half unfinished."
Anne smiled. "But do you know what I wear?"
"Anne," he said patiently. "If I take something apart or undress something, which is essentially the same thing, I pay close attention to its original condition. This surprised Sophia too. She undressed her baby without looking how it was dressed and then when she needed to dress it up again, she did not know how. How could someone not look! Did you not notice my method in laying aside your clothes layer by layer?"
"I was not paying attention to your method at all," she confessed, stifling a grin. "You are too good, being so methodical."
Posted on Thursday, 5 October 2006
Frederick was a little preoccupied as they went downstairs, but Anne was no less reflective. They reached the foot of the stairs without speaking. "I hope you have recovered," he said when they set foot in the hall. She had smiled, but she had said very little.
"You are very good at raising my spirits."
After having wondered for a while whether he was odd or merely in love with his wife, Frederick had decided to put his mind at ease by wondering whether other people ever did similar things, such as people he knew.
He had not thought that a captain and his wife could take separate baths on board, unless the captain condoned such a selfish waste of fresh water. They would have to use the same water, which must needs require watching some of the other's bathing. The water cooled off rather quickly and excessive modesty would lead to one of the parties having to bathe in nearly cold water. Neither, if they were kind, would like such a thing.
"The next time you feel low, you must not hesitate to tell me," he said. It was not at all odd, but practical.
"You did not run, so I suppose you did not think me too ugly," Anne answered, looking away. He had said very little while he was busy, so she had not precisely known whether he enjoyed what he was doing. Yet now he wanted her to ask him again.
"Oh Anne!"
He sounded so appalled that she had to look back at him. "Yes?"
"I was being…" Frederick thought of a good word. "Gentlemanly."
He sometimes had odd ways of being gentlemanly, so Anne gave him an encouraging look. "Yes?" she asked gently.
"By studying how beautiful you were and by saying so, I should have been distracted from my task and thought of things you were not thinking of at all. I noticed it well enough to know I should not notice it."
Anne understood such a cryptic explanation perfectly. She sometimes felt the same and she begun to feel so when he had carried her. "I understand you."
"Do you? But you are a woman."
"May I not think you beautiful?" She did, if that word could apply to men as well.
"But women do not think…of those things." He realised just in time that he could not say they did not think at all. Anne did.
"I do." She reached up to kiss him. He was very handsome. "I do."
"Could you not have told me upstairs that you do?" Frederick asked in some frustration, although he knew that was unjustified.
"I could never be so bold as to say so unprompted! Besides…" She glanced towards the dining room. "To have gone into that after the bath would have made us miss dinner, I am sure."
"Or at the very least have made us look very odd at dinner," he sighed and told himself to behave. "You must not mind me."
"Oh, but I must," Anne decided. "It must have been particularly frustrating to have withheld your thoughts from me because you thought I was not thinking like you, only to find that I might well have been! Remember how incorrect your previous assumptions were, how you thought I had not appreciated being kissed. I am sure it would spare us much frustration if you simply voiced your thoughts and wishes to me. I know I have not been doing that much either, but --"
"You will mend your ways?" he asked hopefully.
"Yes, I will, but not before dinner."
"Edward, I think it is only fair to inform you we have telescopes in our upstairs sitting room," said Sophia as she patted him on the shoulder.
He coloured and choked, trying to remember on which side of the house they had their sitting room. He had been in the park. "Which means…"
"You are secretly affectionate!" She looked delighted to have made that discovery.
Edward glared at her. "You have no decency, spying on people."
"Oh, we do. We immediately focused our telescopes on the other side of the park, but there we saw Frederick kissing. Anne knows we have telescopes, so she must not care. I thought you might."
"I do. Thank you for your consideration."
"It is very amusing to see you hide it. I hope you do not hide it from Amelia, although she was the recipient of your affections, so she must be aware of it." Sophia still looked delighted.
"Oh, go away."
She did.
Although Anne feared her damp hair might inspire some curious looks, apparently everybody was used to bathing and nobody thought anything peculiar. She felt relieved and seated herself by her new sisters, who were laughing over something that fortunately had nothing to do with her.
"Are you all right now, Sophia?" Anne asked when the subject appeared to be exhausted.
"Oh, was I not all right earlier?" Sophia had forgotten.
"You seemed a little tired of mothering." She supposed the two little ones must be rather demanding.
"No, no, no, you must not take everything we say very literally," Sophia hurried to say. "I was not at all tired of mothering. It was something between James and me and you will not want to know." She knew what Anne did not want to know and this might be one of those things.
"Certainly not, if it was between you and him. But I am happy to hear you are all right. If you want me to take over some of your duties you need only say so."
"Oh! That is so lovely! Their frequent changing and cleaning?" she suggested with a wink. "Frederick now knows exactly how."
Anne would do it if she truly asked, although she did not yet take this as a serious request. There was a nursery maid too, after all. "Yes, he was surprised you did not know how to dress them up again, because he thinks one ought to study that extensively before one undresses them."
Sophia guffawed. "What a stupid uncle he is. Is he deaf? Their pitiful crying breaks my heart and does he truly think I would examine how everything is fastened when everything tells me they want attention as quickly as possible?" She paused to breathe. "Well, I am not certain they are really begging to be undressed, but the very last thing I would do is to leave them lying there while I make a drawing of how the cloth is folded."
"I wonder what Edward would do!" said Amelia, who was nearly rubbing her hands at the prospect.
"We shall never find out, because he would not let us watch," Sophia predicted. "I expect he will keep his eyes closed too, considering how he did not want to watch them being bathed."
"I think he was afraid you would make him help and he would blunder," Amelia said doubtfully. "Not because the sight would torment him in any way."
"I hope so for your sake," Sophia said, patting her leg. "It would be horrible if you had a little girl he did not want to see. And I give every aunt and uncle leave to change my daughters when they are dirty. Anne and Frederick may do so on their own, but Edward and you must have someone else there to supervise you."
"Do not be too disappointed if we are not all begging for the honour," Anne said in amusement. "Although I shall do it instantly if you ask."
"I know." Sophia smiled and then frowned. "There is something different about you, but I do not know what."
Anne felt her cheeks burn instantly. Her bathing adventure must have left some marks.
"The earrings. And the necklace. Why do you look so frightened, Anne? Did you steal them?"
"I think we may return home tomorrow," Edward said to Frederick. "Now that you are safe and in good hands."
He grinned as he looked at Anne. "Yes, I am very safe and in very good hands."
"Of course you could come to see us in June or before."
"June." Frederick remembered the child. "Yes, that will be interesting. We may all six descend upon you, or did you think Sophia would not want to come?"
His brother glanced at her. "I suppose she would want to see how affectionate I am and more such nonsense."
"Sophia!" Frederick called. "Would you visit Edward in June?"
She hurried towards her brothers, knowing instantly what June was about. "Yes, yes! We shall bring the girls as well. I wonder what they will be able to do by then!" She was all eager anticipation.
"Nothing yet. I have christened a few, you know," Edward was sorry to have to say. He saw his sister's face and felt he had to reassure her, despite the fact that she had telescopes with which she had spied on him. "But I am sure your girls will be able to smile at me, for they all do."
Frederick stared at him. He had never detected much of an attentiveness to girls in this quarter, yet now Edward made himself out to be some immensely attractive and popular fellow. It was amazing to see the effect of marriage. "All girls do?"
"No, all small infants."
"Really? Why?"
Edward shrugged. "They always like me."
"Well," Sophia said as she studied his face. "He is not exactly frightening, is he? I can imagine that as a tiny little girl I should prefer to be christened by Edward rather than by that man who married you, Frederick." As she spoke, she realised her tiny little girls would have to be christened by that man nevertheless. It was a good thing she had been speaking with sisterly pride and not complete truthfulness.
"I never knew physical attractiveness was an advantage for clergymen," Frederick remarked. "Should you not preach against personal vanity rather than take pride in it?"
"Of course it is an advantage to be attractive. We have no uniform to attract females instead."
"My wife thinks I am beautiful without my uniform." Frederick was proud. She had chosen him for other, more important reasons.
"At least I courted mine in a decent manner," Edward shot back. "Without taking any of my clothes off."
"You should have tried it," Frederick said with a condescending smile, although he was rather affected by the realisation that he had indeed taken something off before his marriage: his shirt. Edward could not possibly know. "It might not have taken you two years in that case."
"It would perhaps be a month if you subtracted all the days on which I did not see her!" Edward protested. He was fond enough of his brother not to say it had taken Frederick eight years. This was nothing but a game. "Besides, I never had Sophia meddle in my courtship and any success was purely my own. You cannot say the same."
"You two --" Sophia began. She did not know whether to hit them or laugh at their stupidity. "I suppose you will forgive me for leaving your company for that of the only sensible man of the party."
Frederick looked around the room and feigned surprise. "Is Edward having a son then?"
"Whatever Edward is having, it is not yet a man and not yet sensible."
"But which sensible man are you speaking of? You do not mean he who shamelessly admits to having married you only because you were pretty?" Frederick wondered.
Sophia raised her eyebrows mockingly. "There was a time when you shamelessly believed he had married me only to pester you."
"Well, it did pester me!" he protested.
"I wonder why you still believe what he says." After so many years she felt Frederick ought to understand at least a little, but perhaps he was only being childish on purpose.
"Do you not? I thought you always believed and admired everything he said."
She laughed. "It is kind of all of you to believe I was pretty, but your loyalty does not make me any better looking. The two of you have received our family's entire share of vanity."
Posted on Sunday, 8 October 2006
It was still dark when Frederick woke. He remembered Edward was leaving today, but he was too lazy to look at the clock. Anne was not awake yet, so there was no immediate need to move. He wondered how she would wake. Perhaps she would not say anything at all, but move on directly to the business of the day. He wondered why she would do that, if she did, but then he remembered not to make any assumptions about what she was thinking. She had said he might be wrong.
"Bathing is much easier," he said when he felt her stir. That was what he must conclude after dwelling on the matter.
Anne made a small sound and shook a little.
"Are you crying?" He hoped not.
"No, it was more like laughing." She would never wake up crying. Frederick did not deserve that. Besides, she had no reason to cry; given what he was saying she only had a reason to be amused.
"He told me it was sinful, not that it was difficult," Frederick grumbled. He did not quite understand her laughter. "It was also not a laughing matter, he said."
"I liked it very much," Anne assured him solemnly. She might not have said this had he not grumbled, she realised, although she had liked most of it very much and strictly speaking she was telling the truth, leaving only a few moments out of it.
"It? What? I am not aware that much occurred." He had expected her to cry and she had not done so.
"Not much is not nothing," she pointed out. She was fairly certain that something had occurred, but perhaps it was not what he had been expecting or imagining. It was difficult to do so beforehand anyhow. "And perhaps this was all there was to it?"
"If that is so…" Frederick said in a doubtful voice. He wanted to believe that Anne was not sparing his feelings by ignoring her own, but he could not be certain. "But you are not going to ask Sophia about it."
She knew of what he was afraid and she did not think there was any reason for it. "But Sophia favours the bit by bit approach…"
And Sophia also favoured laughing at him. "Please."
"All right, I shall not."
Anne had promised not to say anything to Sophia, so she would not, but this left her with a few practical questions. She asked them of Frederick while she dressed, but since she only received grunts in response she concluded he could not even begin to think what the answers might be.
"You do not know, do you? Or do you simply think I should not talk about it?" Anne asked after a while. She would not mind if he had no idea, but she would not like it if he did not want her to have any questions at all.
He wrinkled his brow. "I have been wondering about what you asked…"
"Oh." She was glad she had thought beyond instantly assuming he had not even listened to her.
"But I have no idea. Are you really troubled by these questions?" If she was, he might have to see about procuring some answers for her -- and for himself.
"Not really. Time will bring the answers, I suppose. I should only be really troubled if time did not." It was not a very pressing matter and Anne felt she had enough patience to deal with the small mysteries and discomforts of life.
Frederick drew her towards him and kissed her. "But still I was right about bathing being easier."
"Cleaner, certainly," Anne muttered back. "But Frederick…you did not mention this last night." She had not noticed anything. There had been none of this frustration, which she thought had nothing to do with her questions. Perhaps she was paying more attention to his mood now.
"Why state the obvious?"
"Perhaps I should have stated my obvious then, because that seems to be rather different from yours. I never noticed many difficulties on your side." She still did not. Questions had nothing to do with that. "I thought you were very sweet to me."
Frederick looked mystified at how two opinions could differ so much. "So if I had not said anything, you would have continued to think it was all perfect?"
"Not completely, but not as bad as you are now thinking." Anne was amused in spite of the subject. "Shall I say so next time?" Then she gasped and pressed a hand to her mouth. "Next time! And Sophia said -- oh! Well, that proves there was no problem! She said no woman would encourage a man a second time, but here I clearly seem to be encouraging you."
This did not convince him entirely, but he could not help but be affected by her sweetness. He kissed her again because he had no idea what to say.
Anne went upstairs with Sophia after breakfast to see if she might be of assistance. She did not speak about herself, but instead she listened and helped. Little M was hungry and C was not, so the latter had to be held until she displayed the wish to be fed. Anne occupied herself by studying her closely. "Do you think she looks like you, Sophia?"
"She looks like a baby," Sophia answered calmly. "You laugh, but it does not matter to me."
"I laugh because everybody always wants to have an opinion on whom they look like." And Sophia was being contrary to everyone by not caring.
"Yes, I am married to such a person." She did not seem to mind, for her eyes twinkled.
"Does he think they look like him?"
Sophia sighed. "In the short time they have been acquainted he has already managed to establish that this one takes after me and that one takes after him. I confess that if one is demanding I see to her demands and I do not spend any time comparing their behaviour. It may be so." She loved both herself and her husband, so it did not signify which of the two they resembled.
"And the demanding one, I suppose, takes after you?"
"Thank you, Anne! You know I am extremely demanding, but yes, this is the one. I do not know where he got that notion, or it must be that the one you are holding does not speak up quite as quickly as this one. She is very content to be silent and passive, as her father is about her name."
"Oh, indeed! How could you still live with referring to them as M and C, number one and number two?" Anne wondered. She was curious when the names would be revealed.
"Mine and yours at present. We have, however, made some progress. After wondering if this was what he wanted, I mentioned the possibility of their having two names each -- you heard me do so -- and he is now exploring this notion and my thoughts about it. At a snail's pace, you understand. What is your wish? Whatever yours is. But mine is whatever yours is. But you must not say so only for my sake. And so forth."
Such a conversation and especially Sophia's slightly mocking tone made Anne laugh. "But surely such excessive consulting of each other's opinion must lead to an answer some time?"
"Yes, yes, progress is on its way." Sophia was convinced of that. "And the matter must be settled before his relatives arrive. If they come this way to see them, surely they will want to hear their names? And he could not be seen to leave such an important matter to the evil Sophia, now could he?"
"They do not think you are evil!" Anne protested. They had been in awe of her ability to carry a child, something they did not really comprehend. They had not at all behaved as if they thought Sophia evil.
"Well perhaps not and at least I look almost like myself again, so perhaps they think my understanding has returned as well."
A few days had indeed made a difference to Sophia's size. "I should almost say I have never seen you quite this thin!" Anne remarked.
"You may be right. I was awfully big already when we moved here."
"Indeed. So big that nobody noticed anything."
"They do not expect it from an old woman. Had I been your age, I am sure some old lady would have worked it out. Brace yourself."
There were roundabout ways of coming by the desired answers, naturally, although coming up with such a roundabout way required a little reflection. Shaving, dressing and eating his breakfast were all perfect occasions for that.
Frederick did not want to speak until he was left alone with Admiral Croft, who was engrossed in reading a newspaper. Edward and Amelia were packing and Sophia and Anne had mentioned what they were going to do, but he had not really listened. If he now asked, he mused, he would undoubtedly be told to speak to Anne and he already knew what Anne would say. He would have to have that response ready in case it was needed.
"I was wondering…" he began.
There was no response to that, not even a ruffling of the paper.
"I was wondering…" Frederick repeated in an even more measured voice. "When precisely is always the first moment you know there is no child coming after certain activities?"
"I always know that before I am forced to take part in those activities," the admiral said from behind his newspaper. He sounded bored and disinterested.
That was no help. Frederick told himself to be patient. "So what was different about the time that you did have a child -- two -- coming?" There must have been something different about that time, but what? He wanted the practical details.
"I was wrong."
"But what I was asking is when did you know you were wrong?"
"When Sophy told me."
"Sophia!" That must mean a man could never know and there was, at least on his side, no difference between success and failure.
"My wife? The one who would carry the offspring if there is any to be had?"
"But would she instantly feel you had hit your target or how does that work?" There was some silence and Frederick stared at the newspaper apprehensively. It did not move. It was absolutely still now. Perhaps he had not phrased that well.
"Weeks later," was the answer eventually.
"And you had no idea in the meantime that this time was different from the thousands of fruitless attempts that had preceded it?"
Admiral Croft now lowered the newspaper to stare at him. He looked appalled. "Thousands? In only fifteen years? I beg you to redo your calculations, if you did any at all. I had a profession to keep me busy! Unlike you, I imagine. Newlywed and idle."
That implication made him blush. "Dozens, then," he said tersely.
"Frederick, precisely what are you very unsuccessfully trying to discover? I assure you I could go on like this forever and you would become none the wiser." He felt rather benevolent this morning, however, and might consider answering a direct question. Once, long ago, he had been even more in need of information.
"I am trying to find answers to Anne's questions without appearing ignorant."
The admiral carefully folded his newspaper and rolled it up. He leant sideways and administered a good thwack to Frederick's head. "If you instead tried to appear ignorant, you might in fact appear clever. How is that?"
"But I told Anne not to ask Sophia anything, so how could I be direct myself? That would be…" Frederick shrugged. It would not be fair to Anne. It would look as if he did not trust her, when he had merely changed his mind later.
"That would be the only way to come by a useful answer? Well, that is not even true," the admiral said reflectively. "I had nobody at hand except the other ignorant party and we managed to decipher everything as well. It depends on how patient you are."
After this conversation Frederick could not instantly find Anne. Sophia was nursing her twins, something that seemed to be happening all day long, but she was otherwise alone. He looked on and found Anne in Edward's room where they were packing a trunk. Amelia was lying on the bed with her head over the edge, staring into a bucket, but since they paid her no attention Frederick assumed she had been lying like that for a while.
He sat on a chair and wondered why Anne was here. She was busy folding a gown, something his brother was apparently unable to do. Perhaps that was not surprising. He could not have had any reason to fold gowns before, assuming Amelia had been feeling well before they had travelled here. Although Anne had acknowledged her husband with a smile, Edward had not once looked in the direction of his wife since Frederick had come in. It was rather bothersome that they simply chattered on.
Amelia languidly left the bed to sit by Frederick at the table. He only now noticed a plate with a piece of toast she unenthusiastically began to chew.
"Ah, you are better!" Edward said brightly.
She gave him a grimace that might pass for a smile. "The journey will be tough, but such suffering will make me thankful for all my blessings, notably the greatest of them all."
To this serene declaration Anne gave a snort she tried to suppress. Such a disrespectful reaction surprised Frederick. He did not understand either of them, but apparently they understood each other very well.
"You bear your fate with admirable fortitude," Anne praised Amelia.
"Not a whiff of resentment," Amelia agreed. "I am the most forgiving and fortunate of creatures."
"You are also…" Edward began to say, but he did not finish. "Will you want more toast?"
Posted on Wednesday, 11 October 2006
Frederick felt useless. Anne was helping Edward to pack and he did not exactly know why, and she was having a mysterious conversation with Amelia that he did not understand. He could only sit there and wait until they were all finished. "Which fate will you bear?" he asked Amelia when Edward and Anne discovered the trunk had to be repacked entirely. He suspected that was Edward's wish and not Anne's. His brother was as fastidious as he was about clothes.
"Perhaps you would not appreciate the joke," Amelia murmured. "It could be made at the expense of you as well."
"Then it must have something to do with being married to us," he deduced. What they had in common was that they were now both Mrs Wentworth.
"To Edward, really, because I told Anne how he tries to raise my spirits."
Frederick almost blushed. He had raised Anne's spirits as well, but it could not be in the manner Edward had employed. Edward! Never. He ignored for a moment that Edward's wife was expecting. "How?"
She glanced at her husband, but he could not hear them if they spoke quietly. "He has deep philosophies about pain, suffering and perpetuating the Wentworth name. My philosophies about the same, on the other hand, are extremely shallow and earthy."
"I can well imagine him having deep philosophies, but I am afraid I cannot imagine how these are supposed to raise anyone's spirits. Can he not do anything?" Frederick could not imagine himself talking when there was something he could do, even if he did not know what.
"No, he cannot." Amelia smiled. It looked like a proper smile now, so she was probably feeling better. "He can only watch and worry. I am sure he will be less philosophical the second time."
"It does not seem to bother you."
She shook her head. "No, it does not. He cannot do anything, so I must not make it worse for him by complaining."
That, he supposed, was exactly what Anne would think, but that would never let him know when she had anything to complain about. Then again, if it was truly bad he supposed she would say so nevertheless.
Anne had been amused by Edward's request. She was willing to indulge his fastidiousness about packing because it reminded her of Frederick in some sense, although she understood perfectly why someone who was not feeling well might tell him to do it alone. Edward would not dare to be curt with her, but she did not know what he would say to someone whose mind was not at all on her task.
She had no idea why he had not chosen two trunks instead of one, since it was going to be a very tight fit. If Frederick ever wished to travel, she would recommend leaving a little space while packing the clean clothes. Everyone except Edward seemed to know that clothes that had been worn took up more space than those that had not. Yet even Edward had travelled before.
She had had to leave Sophia to help Edward, but Sophia had said she would be fine. Even Edward was now almost fine upon seeing Sophia. His stay here seemed to have hardened him against the scandalous sight of nursing babies.
She wondered how the admiral's father and brothers would fare. Perhaps they did not even know how the young were fed. They would be in for a shock in that case. She hoped for Sophia's sake that they would be sensible, so that Sophia would not have to feel provoked into nursing the babies in front of them. One or more of those Crofts would have a fit if they saw the admiral fumble with the front of Sophia's gown. Even Edward had been shocked, although Frederick had merely appeared curious.
"I should check whether the babies have finished nursing," Anne said when Edward's trunk was packed and he was satisfied enough with it not to want to repack it. "There is not much Sophia can do with both of her arms full."
"Oh, let me come," Amelia spoke up. "I feel better now and I must see how she does it. Not many people I know would do it themselves and if they did, they would not let me watch."
They left the room discussing this and Frederick remained seated. "Edward, I may have a few questions."
"I know nothing about nursing babies. Yet," he added under his breath, because he had a feeling his wife was going to do it in front of him when she had their child. He supposed he had no choice but to grow used to it. Now that he had seen his nieces he could not imagine sending his own child out for a year.
"That is not relevant to me yet. It is about something else."
"I am sorry, Anne," Frederick said to her after he had intercepted her coming out of Sophia's room. "But I did what I asked you not to do. That was unfair of me, but I changed my mind."
"Did you speak to Sophia?" He could not have, unless he had done so before going to Edward's room. She looked puzzled. She would not mind if he had indeed spoken to his sister. In fact, she would rather have him do that himself, because she would feel mortified twice if she had to do it. First she would have to listen and then she would have to repeat it.
"No, but I spoke to almost everyone else."
"Oh?" she asked with huge eyes. "About…"
"Yes, James hit me with his newspaper," Frederick complained, just to see whether this could inspire some pity.
Anne's reaction was instant. She gazed at him compassionately. "Shall I hit him back for you?"
He had expected her to guess he had asked some foolish questions, but not this. He could only encourage her. "Yes, yes, yes!"
"I will," she promised. He had dared to speak up, only to be punished. It was not fair.
Before Anne could seek revenge for the mocking treatment of Frederick, Edward and Amelia left. The remaining family members assembled to wave goodbye to them and several promises to write and visit were exchanged. Anne was sorry to see them leave. They were a pleasant brother and sister, with similar tastes in some matters. Although they could not make her laugh quite as much as the other two, she could have agreeable and interesting conversations with them. It would be pleasant to stay there some time.
It did not cost her much trouble to single out Admiral Croft. "You hit Frederick!" she said to him accusingly. She was neither surprised at seeing him burst into laughter, nor at her own inability to hit him back. Her hand would simply not be raised. He was so many years her senior, he was her brother-in-law and he was an admiral.
"Did he not say why? I had never guessed you to be the kind to come to someone's defence without any explanation and yet it must be so, because for you to take up this same subject is unexpected."
"No, he did not say why," she had to admit. "And do not tell me, because I do indeed not want to take up that subject. I only came to hit you back."
His laughter indicated that he did not take her threat at all seriously. "I hit him for his inability to express himself intelligibly and directly, so if you still require any answers you had perhaps best speak with Sophia. I told him I know nothing about women. I only know everything about Sophia."
"Do you? Do you know she wants her daughters to be named?" Anne did not know how she ever came to think of that, but it seemed effective.
"I thought you would not hit me!"
"The admiral told you nothing then," Anne said as she sank down beside Frederick in one of the window seats.
He pulled her a little closer. "He told me quite a lot."
She stared. That was not the impression she had received. "Oh."
"Could we walk out?" he requested. "I did not see you hit him, but he does look at you as if you did and I cannot speak to you if he keeps observing us, not about subjects like these."
Anne shrugged. "I found I could not hit him. I am probably too kind. Why would he now look at me?"
"To see whether I am doing what he ordered me to do."
She wanted to ask what that was, but the other two approached them. They might have come to reissue that order, so she looked expectant.
"We are going for a walk outside," Sophia announced. "I hope the girls will not be fussy, but…are you staying in?"
"Well, we must now, must we not?" Frederick said in resignation. Her words were very nearly an order to stay in. "And keep ourselves in a place where we may be disturbed, so that we may sacrifice our little fingers for their comfort." He did not mind. He had been ordered to talk to Anne and he could just as easily do so here if they were alone.
"It was brought to my attention, my dear, that you want our daughters to be named," Admiral Croft spoke. He had drawn Sophia's arm through his and decided on the path to take, but he had been silent until now.
"Anne," Sophia knew instantly. They were already halfway through the park and she had been waiting patiently until his mind was free for conversation.
"Should one be named Anne? Would that not be rather confusing?" Besides, he had thought they were M and C. Perhaps one of the second names was to be Anne then. This was still confusing, since his relatives always used first and second names interchangeably -- although they would not often meet the original Anne. If they came here, they would and it would be confusing then.
"I meant," Sophia said loudly, because she sensed he was going off on a tangent, "that Anne must have spoken to you."
"Oh. Yes, because I hit Frederick. With my newspaper," he added to lessen his offence. It had not hurt at all.
"You must have a way to lead me away from my topic, must you not?" she said in resignation, but she would humour him for a moment. She would not forget about her own intention. "Why did you hit Frederick? You are not like that."
"He was being stupid, of course. Asking me what was different about the occasion on which the girls were conceived, compared to the thousands of fruitless attempts before, as he put it." He might have been offended by such a question.
"Ow," Sophia said feelingly, deeming that enough of an answer. Something occurred to her, however. "But there is something wrong with that question."
"There certainly is." It should not have been voiced.
"The frequency implied by thousands of attempts makes it impossible to know which was the precise occasion. I only knew because there was no such frequency."
The admiral grinned at her. "He does not know how those things go. Perhaps he thought your stomach swelled up instantly when I, as he put it, hit my target?" He had once hoped for such a clear sign himself and as such he understood such logic to some extent. By now, however, he was enlightened and felt he was allowed to mock it if he liked.
Her eyes widened. "Ow," she said again. She could not think of anyone involved whom she did not pity, including herself. "Poor…everybody."
"You are not an object!" he declared rather passionately. "And your brother…"
"Should not be mentioned when you are about to kiss me," Sophia murmured against his lips. She hoped he was passionate about her and not about Frederick's stupidity.
"I wanted to speak to you about your daughters," said Sophia when she felt her husband had distracted her long enough. It had been pleasant and it was gratifying to be so attractive and beloved, but she must not forget about her girls.
He was not ready yet. He had not been the first in her thoughts for a week and he felt he had a right to be demanding. Ever since their marriage he had been first and now he was third. "Please, Sophy."
She gave in to his persuasive look -- until she felt bigger and bigger raindrops splash on her face.
"We shall get wet," he observed. "We could return home instantly or first borrow an umbrella at Kellynch Lodge."
"Yes. Borrow." The rain started to come down harder and they would be soaked if they walked back. Kellynch Lodge was but a stone's throw away. She hoped nobody had been looking out of its windows.
With Sophia huddled close against him, he rang the bell. "Might we borrow an umbrella?" he inquired.
"Admiral, Mrs Croft," said the manservant respectfully. "Please step in. Would you not prefer to wait here instead of taking an umbrella?" Evidently he thought his mistress would not mind.
"Wait here? What time is it?" Sophia tried to locate her pocket watch, but she supposed that if she had had time to walk, she might have time to wait.
Lady Russell would not hear of their stepping out in such dreadful weather, no matter how many umbrellas they borrowed, and provided them with some tea. "How is Anne?" she inquired after a while.
The first thing that now came to Sophia's mind with regard to Anne was Frederick's talk of hitting targets. She had to think for a few seconds until she could come up with a proper answer. "Anne. She is her usual self. Helped me with my daughters and my brother Edward with packing his trunk." It was a relief that Anne had seemed absolutely fine, unaffected or unaware of Frederick's foolishness.
"Aye and ordering me about," the admiral nodded. "Wants me to name my daughters, so between her pressure and that of my wife's, I have come up with names now."