Beginning, Previous Section, Section XI, Next Section
Posted on Saturday, 14 October
Frederick and Anne remained in the window seat. He spoke to her as she stared out of the window, but due to the subject she never really noticed it was raining. She was furthermore leaning back against him too comfortably to care about the weather outside. "You have an excellent memory," she remarked when she sensed they had covered everything. After some initial struggles he had also proved excellent at explaining. There were some things she had already known and she supposed he had too, but it was always more comfortable to start out easy.
"I always did," he said with a sigh. "Which is why I could never forget what he told me all those years ago -- and now he had the nerve to tell me he had been exaggerating! He made it sound worse on purpose. So, what do you think now? He said that some things should not be put it into words because they would give the wrong impression, so that the impression you have received is not necessarily whole."
"I wonder if you noticed exactly how many sailing terms crept into that explanation." Those had amused her and she had wondered if they had come from the admiral or the captain.
"No, I did not notice. I suppose that is what you get if you marry into a naval family. Farmers might give you different comparisons. Did you understand everything?"
"Of course." Anne enjoyed the feeling of his hand on her stomach. She took it as an interest in something that might not yet be there and it was rather comforting. "I was merely wondering who came up with them first."
"He did, of course. He does not enjoy talking about it at all, but he had enough sympathy for ignorance."
"So much sympathy that he hit you," she nodded wisely.
Frederick looked doubtful. "Well, to be honest I think I did ask a question that might have caused pain or offence, although that was not my intention. I think he knew I was merely being stupid and thoughtless, though."
"Not thoughtless," she corrected. "But thinking of one very important thing at the expense of some others that are not as important. Again." She smiled to indicate it was not disastrous. It was not as bad as stepping on her foot, but perhaps she should not judge these situations based on their damage to herself alone. That was selfish. Frederick's question -- which he had repeated candidly -- had made her wince a little. Someone could well have asked the same question out of malice and one should try to avoid the implication that a childless couple had been doing something wrong for so many years.
"I should not do these things without you."
"I should have been mortified!" she protested.
He wanted to protest as well. "But at least you would retain your common sense despite feeling mortified, I think. I cannot really manage that. Although…did you hit him?" Perhaps Anne's common sense was a trifle overrated.
"No, I told him that if he knows Sophia so well, he should know she wants her daughters to be named. She is waiting for him to be a little more decisive. Their conversations are going nowhere, you see."
Frederick chuckled. "It is only fair to meddle back. But I had always thought they liked conversations going nowhere -- and does this mean you prefer decisiveness as well?"
"If I gave you a hint I should like for it to be taken," she agreed. "But in general I think you do. Such constant yielding and evading would not suit you. Although there is no telling how precious the matter will become if we have to wait fifteen years for it as well."
"It is a miracle they dared to go for a longer walk than merely around the house, really." He glanced outside. "But should they not have come back because of the rain? What are we to do if the babies become hungry? Could you be of use? You are a woman."
Anne coloured when his hand crept up from her stomach. "Yes, I am a woman, but women without babies are of as little use as men. I am sure there is an appropriate sailing term for it as well, if you consider me to be the --"
"I understand," he said, clasping his hand over her mouth. "But while such terms make it easier to understand, they are rather -- still, what are we to do? Sophia will be back, will she not?"
"Yes. Her babies! She will not forget about them. But we shall be notified if they are fussy."
Lady Russell bemusedly watched the effect of the admiral's words on Mrs Croft. He had come up with names for his daughters, which was no astonishing feat, but Mrs Croft shone and glowed with undisguised admiration as if there was no man more wonderful.
Lady Russell was not disposed to agree. While he was undoubtedly respectable and in possession of some qualities that pleased Mrs Croft, Admiral Croft was hardly more than mediocre when it came to refinement and good breeding, not to mention good looks. He could be much more wonderful, in short.
"You must not underestimate the effect of the birth on a man," Admiral Croft said to Lady Russell. "Two daughters! I lost half my mind and many things did not register. Now that I have had time to become used to the situation, I feel everything return to me."
Lady Russell had no children. She had never even pondered the effect of a birth on a man, let alone the birth of daughters, as far as she could tell. "You had not counted on two," she said, only to have something to say.
"I had not even counted on one anymore. What with six brothers between the two of us, I had resigned myself to spoiling nieces and nephews, but while her brothers have lately begun to work on providing me with some, mine still show no inclination." He did not think they ever would.
"James," Sophia begged. She grew vexed with his stalling. "Names?"
"Hair?" he requested.
She removed her hairpins and shook her hair loose. "Tell me."
He took a moment to study her, revelling in his success. His wife was most accommodating and kind. She did what he asked much more quickly than he did what she asked. "And tell me why you trust me not to say Perseverance and Indestructible now?" He could not resist one last teasing remark.
"You value your life more than that." That was an empty threat. She could never do without him.
"Indeed. I still have the task of raising Catherine and Margaret to become respectable young ladies."
"Your memory is not entirely gone!" Sophia said jubilantly. She had not been at all certain that he would mention these names in particular. If she had not been at Kellynch Lodge, where they must behave, she would have thrown herself into his lap and embraced him. Now she had to be satisfied with merely imagining such an action.
"That is settled then," the admiral said to Lady Russell, rubbing his hands in satisfaction. He was glad he had given the correct answer, for he had had a clearer recollection of Sophia's stipulations with regard to length and normalcy than of names he had actually mentioned once. He had not really been joking all that much about his memory.
Lady Russell did not know what to say. Sailors. They were very odd people and their wives were no less odd.
"I can never remember the names of girls," he explained to her. "Except Sophy, Anne, Amelia and other sensible girls. What a cruel trick of fate to give me two daughters who must be named! But since it is likely that they will remain our only two, I had to come up with something decent."
"As if you would start out with something indecent if you expected ten more to follow!" Sophia cried. "But I am very glad we did not have ten before these."
"We could not have become good friends if we had, because you would not have been able to come with me. I prefer it this way and I have told you so before."
"But it seems at present as if you will be able to remain ashore for some time," said Lady Russell. She had followed the latest news on the matter with a view to Anne. She would not have cared very much if Mrs Croft was left ashore all by herself -- although perhaps she would now think differently -- but she had not thought it would make Anne very happy, yet she had not wanted to imagine Anne going to sea either. All sailors staying ashore would solve that dilemma very nicely.
"Our timing was indeed perfect," Sophia agreed. "And if life here is too dull for you, my dear Admiral, you might have to take Mr Musgrove up on that offer of going rat hunting."
He blinked. "We shot at large ships with bullets larger than the size of a rat! How is shooting rats supposed to excite me?" It was quite a few steps down.
"According to Frederick the offer was meant to remove you from under my thumb. Young Mr Musgrove could not imagine that a man would voluntarily spend so much time in the company of his wife," Sophia explained to Lady Russell. She supposed an additional comment about Mrs Musgrove would be unnecessary.
"I cannot imagine that a man would choose to spend his time with rats instead of his wife," said the admiral. "That would defeat the whole purpose of having a wife, which is company."
"Has Anne written to Sir Walter?" Lady Russell inquired. She had very little to say about the purpose of having a wife, since she felt she might be able to come up with more reasons than the admiral would understand.
"There was something in the outgoing mail, I believe, but I cannot tell you what she wrote."
"She still had to notify her father of her marriage."
"But…" Sophia frowned. "Is that not why Frederick went to Bath? Since they were married almost directly upon his return I forgot to ask about that visit." It had all gone so fast that she had assumed it was all right.
"He never spoke to Sir Walter," said Lady Russell. She was glad to see that his sister did not instantly take Captain Wentworth's side in the matter, because she looked shocked at this news.
"How did he get Anne to marry him if he had not spoken to her father? I cannot imagine Frederick lying, but I do not think she would have approved of him wriggling out of that." There had been no need to do so, as far as Sophia knew. The outcome of the interview could not affect him. Anne would marry him.
"Apparently Sir Walter did the wriggling," Lady Russell said with a slightly disapproving look. He was a good acquaintance, but his lack of interest in Anne did not sit well with her. Although he was the model of good breeding and good looks, he was not wonderful either.
"Why?" Admiral Croft wondered. "He is not so attached to her as to be afraid of losing her. Or is it that Frederick is not a baronet?"
Sophia, who thought it might be the Navy's fault, changed the subject. Her husband's behaviour would at the moment not lend any support to a defence of the virtues of captains and admirals. Even if nobody might have seen them embracing outside, that event would colour anything he would say. "But her mother was very attached to her, was she not?"
"Yes, she was," Lady Russell answered. "Did Anne show you the box?"
"Yes. She was very happy with it. A good sign at a good moment, I thought. I do not like jewellery myself, but it was a sweet thought." Sophia remembered the hairpins still in her hand and began to redo her hair. "It was lovely to see someone cared."
Admiral Croft wandered towards the window and Lady Russell seized this opportunity to ask a question. "Why did he want your hair undone?" To her it almost felt as if the admiral had been asking his wife to undress, but his wife had complied so instantly that it could not be so.
"He likes the look of it. If he had his way I should be walking around with my hair undone all day, but I cannot be so impractical." She twisted her hair up and fastened it quickly. "I see you understand very little of it."
Lady Russell had not wished to express that so clearly and she hesitated. She also did not wish to admit that a Mrs Croft who looked like a savage in fact looked slightly younger and prettier. This was completely contrary to her principles.
Sophia felt she must explain. "We ought to have waited until we were alone, but I could not contain my curiosity for so long. You see, I did not want to give our girls names he did not like and he did not want to give them names I did not like -- we are like that -- so that when he very quickly rattled off some suitable names and rattled on, I thought he might not like them and I suppose he thought I did not like them because I did not react. And when I finally said they must be M and C to speed matters up, I was not certain he remembered what he had once said. You see, he cannot be seen to know girls' names, because he always says he does not know any. And there is the matter of his family all having two names each, a tradition he may wish to uphold, but one I have always mocked."
She paused to take a few breaths. "This does sound like too many worries over nothing. We are not usually like this, but the unexpectedness raised all sorts of feelings and feelings affect one's good sense."
"Indeed they do," said Lady Russell, who thought of the brother and his tattoo. She had thought he lacked good sense and Anne thought he had too many feelings, but she had not truly seen a connection between the two. Mrs Croft made it sound more reasonable. "But once everything is settled…"
"Indeed," Sophia agreed. "Everyone in our house will see his or her good sense return. I think Anne may be best at keeping it."
A servant had first come to warn Anne that the babies were restless, whereupon they had been taken downstairs by their aunt and uncle, and a short while later the same servant came to inform them that Admiral and Mrs Croft had returned. They were in their rooms.
"What do you think?" asked Frederick. "Will Sophia miss her babies before they start missing her? Who will scream first?"
"Not yours. She seems comfortable with you." Anne had been watching stealthily how he did not at all seem to mind holding her. There was no complaint about having a chaperone now.
"Then I shall keep her. Would you like us to keep you?" he asked the baby, who was gazing up with confused blue eyes. "Ah, no sound. She likes us. She does look a little puzzled, but not frightened."
"Why should she be frightened of you?" Anne asked with a smile.
"She may be fearing I am going to undress her again, if this was the one. I cannot tell. I think the cold air startled her then."
"It cannot have been you. You undress things with great care."
"Things!" he repeated. He would not call them things, but he smiled at Anne for her loyalty. "I am glad you noticed."
"That was what I was paying attention to, in fact, not your method in laying clothes aside layer by layer. The former is the more important quality. I could not be impressed by your boasting you knew the exact order in which you had torn them off."
"For such a nice girl you say the most scandalous things," Frederick remarked, a little astonished.
She smiled at him. "Not really. Shall we take them to Sophia? I have M. She is the outspoken and demanding one and she is going to show us that soon." The little girl's sudden activity made her fearful.
Frederick followed her when she got up. "How do you know?"
"That she is M? It says so on her clothes."
"No, that she is outspoken and demanding." In his opinion she had been just as quiet as the other one. Neither had cried.
"Her father thinks so."
"He must have lost his mind. How can something that cannot speak be outspoken? If I ever display such madness…"
Posted on Tuesday, 17 October 2006
They managed to deliver the twins to Sophia before either of them made a distressing sound. She was in her bed and almost jumped out of it when they came in, although she settled for stretching out her arms. "I so wished to go downstairs, but he forbade me!"
"Are you unwell?" Anne asked in concern. It was not like Sophia to stay in bed because she was forbidden to leave it.
"No, James said you would come and find us, so --"
"Yes," he interrupted. He felt fortunate that he had just stepped out of the bed to poke into the fire and that he was dressed well enough. "Because our quarters are accessible to the general public now that we have children."
Anne gasped. "But at your father's house!" He had thought the ladies' room accessible to the general public -- or at least himself -- as well. And here he had left the door ajar, which she had been told was an invitation to walk in if it was something to do with the babies.
"What of it? But Sophia is not unwell. I merely wanted her to myself for a few moments." He left the fire alone and observed the new arrivals as if he must resign himself to having them in his private room.
"Oh." Anne glanced at the baby in her arms. She did not want to interrupt anything and little M still looked fine. "Should we take them away again then?"
"No, leave them," he gestured. "Our secret assignation has become public."
"Are you certain?" Anne asked Sophia timidly. "Because you just arrived home and we could easily --"
"Oh, do not listen to him and his assignations. I am in bed because I was cold." She held out her arms for the first child. "And he does not have to share me if he keeps me here."
Frederick had suggested they could go outside. It had stopped raining and he was eager for some exercise. The gig was not active enough to his taste and he wanted to walk. Anne had been concerned about the weather, but he had said they could also lie in bed if they got wet and cold, and furthermore that he would carry her home if she was tired.
"How could I resist such offers?" she smiled.
"Perhaps you should tell your sister we are married. She would appreciate being told quickly and this is the soonest we could tell her." The walk was long enough to count as sufficient exercise and it was not too long for Anne, he thought. He felt it might be best to take care of this as soon as possible. It would be pleasant if Anne's family reacted positively for once, but if Anne and he did their duty, they at least could not be blamed for anything by sensible people.
"If you say so," Anne said in a hopeful voice. She was not certain Mary would believe this was the soonest moment possible.
It was as if he had read her thoughts. "We had much to do."
"But do not tell her anything about that!" exclaimed Anne, who thought of the bath. "No matter how she provokes you, do not tell her."
Frederick rolled his eyes at her. He was occasionally sensible and discreet. "I never told anyone anything."
"But you spoke to everyone, you said."
"I merely asked them about themselves and matters in general. Whatever they guessed is no more than a guess."
Anne supposed that meant he had been so transparent that guesses had not been necessary and she shook her head a little. She had married him, transparency and all, and in a sense it was good that one did not always have to guess his thoughts or feelings. On the whole there were more disadvantages to an unreadable character. Perhaps she ought to work on revealing more of her thoughts herself.
Anne had known that a meeting with some of the Musgroves was inevitable, but she was glad that the first of them was old Mrs Musgrove, who was visiting Mary when they called there.
Mrs Musgrove had been rather puzzled by the varying accounts of who had had litters and babies, but she was at least acquainted enough with childbirth and her son's manner of expressing himself to conclude that they must be Mrs Croft's. Mary had just been beginning to feel ill-used once more by having been made to believe they were puppies when Anne appeared.
Frederick was curious what Mrs Musgrove would say to him, but he did not know she was merely interested while Louisa was and that if Louisa's interest ended, so did hers. Consequently she greeted him very politely, without any traces of disappointment or even of surprise at seeing him with Anne. This made him wonder if he was not the first man who had ceased to be a favourite. It might be a regular occurrence. This was a relief and he could only be glad for Anne's constancy.
"Why did you not tell me they were Mrs Croft's?" Mary began.
Anne feigned incomprehension. "They? Who?"
"Those children. I just heard they were."
"Charles knew," Anne replied. Nobody had been remiss but Charles. "I assumed he had told you. I believe she wrote him a note and he replied." That had been days ago. The matter should have been cleared up by now by people who communicated in a different way from Mary and Charles.
"It is just like Charles not to tell me!"
Anne decided not to wait, nor to risk an argument between Charles' wife and mother. "We are married. I came to tell you that."
"Married! In secret?"
"No, in private." Anne supposed that to Mary it would be the same thing, but to her it was something quite different.
"Did you elope?"
She tried to remember how many days had passed since they had last spoken to Mary and if this allowed enough time for an elopement. She thought not. Perhaps Mary asked this question for a different reason. "Did Father write to you? We did not elope."
"Who were there?" Mary was ready to feel insulted that she had not been informed when someone else might have been. "Did you have anybody there? Only Father and Elizabeth?"
"No, only my sisters," Frederick answered.
"Why not Anne's sisters? And her father? Was he not there?"
There was a good explanation for that. The truth was astonishingly simple sometimes. "They were not in the room when I felt the urge."
Mrs Musgrove congratulated them warmly, as if her own daughter had never wished this for herself. Mary was compelled to offer her congratulations as well, but they were not as warm. She could not help but dwell on the fact that she had not attended, but that only Captain Wentworth's sisters had been there. "Who was your other sister before her marriage?" Mary demanded.
He stared at her. "I did not ask her." He knew, of course, that Amelia was the daughter of some acquaintance of Edward's, but he had not bothered to be interested in her precise background and connections. It was none of Mary's business who Amelia was, but he supposed she did not think they should have left the daughter of a baronet out of it -- and he had not. He had married one.
"But what I am to say to people?" she complained.
"I am not sure people will expect you to say anything. Men certainly will not. They cannot be displaying the least bit of interest in weddings." He would think them very odd if they did.
Anne should have felt concerned, but she could not trouble herself to feel more than indifference. She no longer had to try and change Mary's mind to make her own life more bearable. Frederick's opinion mattered most, followed by those of his sister and brother. They all liked or even loved her. They were not bothered by such trifles.
"Aunt Anne!" Her little nephews disturbed her musings when they ran into the room and attacked her.
"I am so glad I only have two," Mary sighed and rubbed her temples after she had unsuccessfully tried to silence them. "They are so loud! It gives me a headache."
"Nonsense," said Mrs Musgrove, who was fond of her grandsons. "There is nothing like a large family, Mary, and boys are boys."
Frederick pulled the nearest one off Anne and studied him with more interest than before. It would be nice to have one who looked like him. The boy did not appreciate this scrutiny, however, and wriggled to free himself. When the other one sensed there was wrestling to be had there, he abandoned Anne and joined his brother. Frederick was soon on the floor.
"How lovely," Mrs Musgrove beamed at the noise that ensued.
"Do you still have that bruise cream?" Frederick wondered as he rubbed his ribcage. "Those nephews of yours have quite a kick." Although he had enjoyed himself, the boys had been rather rough.
Anne was glad they were walking home again. She could speak openly now. "Yes, I shall check whether you are wounded later."
"They kicked and punched me all over. You are an excellent wife."
"Well, it was a fairly transparent request…" she teased, but then she turned serious. "Mary took it fairly well."
"How could she not? I was more relieved to see Mrs Musgrove did not resent either of us for…er…eloping with each other, or marrying without asking the entire neighbourhood for permission."
Anne had been equally relieved, although she still frowned. "Louisa did when I saw her. She was quite…"
"But she must not have told her mother that."
She agreed there had been no signs of resentment or disappointment in Mrs Musgrove. "There is much she could have said, but I hope she did not."
"I am sure my behaviour deserves some criticism, but yours could never and as such I should hope people would take that into account before they speak at all. Should we go to Bath some day to see your other relatives in person?" Assuming they cared, he added silently. "I know you do not like Bath, but you may need to go shopping once in a while."
"I usually do not go as far as Bath." She wondered if what had suited Miss Anne Elliot to buy and wear would not longer be suitable for Mrs Anne Wentworth, the wife of a wealthy man. "Do you think I am not dressed well enough?"
That did not appear to be what Frederick had meant. "I think you are beautiful in everything and out of everything, but --"
"Frederick!" she hissed, looking around herself even if there was nobody who could have overheard that remark. She was still not completely used to hearing such things.
He looked delighted with this reaction, although the rest of his answer was spoken in a more serious tone. "I meant that I assumed everybody shopped in Bath, even you."
"I could shop in Bath if you wanted me to." It would be different with Frederick. There was always the prospect of being alone with him for parts of the day, certainly after tedious social calls.
They discussed the possibility of going, although Anne would prefer to wait until her father had written back. Perhaps his reply would render a trip to Bath unnecessary, or at least not immediately required. Frederick would want to go some day and she supposed she must as well. He talked of buying things for her and although she tried to curb his enthusiasm, she would probably end up with gifts whatever she said.
Anne had nobody she particularly wished to see in Bath, whereas Frederick did. He knew he would meet with acquaintances there to whom he would enjoy showing his wife. There was nothing he disliked about Bath at all and Anne deserved to be spoilt. He could understand her reluctance, however, and agreed to let any plans depend on Sir Walter's reply.
"We were at Kellynch Lodge for a while earlier," Sophia said to Anne. It was difficult to catch Anne alone these days. Frederick was never far away and indeed Anne had been watching him write a letter as if there was nothing more captivating. Sophia had no qualms about taking her away to occupy her mind in a more sensible manner. "It was very interesting. Why did you marry Frederick if he never spoke to your father?"
"Because I wanted him quite badly," Anne said, repeating Sophia's own words to her. She had always remembered those. They had made a deep impression on her.
"What!" Sophia looked amazed. Although she did believe the sentiment was true, it was unusual for Anne to voice such a thing.
"That is why you married, you said. I thought it was -- I was struck by how I apparently never seemed to want anything so badly for me to get it. It made an impression because I always seem to give up my wishes and it made an impression because you wanted him so much."
"Wanted, not loved."
"What!" It was now Anne's turn to say that. She had thought they had loved each other instantly, if such a thing was possible. Apparently it was not.
"If I loved then, what should I call it now?" Sophia wondered. She did not feel the same she had felt then. "I merely realised it would be agreeable to be married to him and I do not know what the rest of it was. But do not mind me, because it all came right. What about Frederick and your father?"
Anne was still a little stunned. "My father never received him, so it was not Frederick's fault."
"And you loved him and realised it would be agreeable to be married to him, so you wanted him," Sophia said with a nod.
"I suppose."
"Is being married as agreeable as you thought it would be?" She thought they were getting along rather well.
"Yes," Anne said thoughtfully. "Although it was not such a change as I had thought beforehand, since I was already living here and nobody treated me very differently afterwards. But I do like it."
"Yes, that is true. It was different for me. I left my home and I suddenly had a friend all my own. The equality is lovely if you were but a daughter and elder sister before. We were both thrilled to have such a friend. Perhaps Frederick was not very wrong," she said dryly. "He said we had only married because nobody else wanted us."
"Frederick!"
"He was convinced there must be something seriously wrong with a girl of twenty-three who was not yet married. Yes, he really told me that. He was very supportive."
Anne's eyes turned towards him in disbelief. "But I am older than that."
Obviously Sophia was aware of that. "There is nothing wrong with unmarried girls of any age. There is something wrong with boys of fifteen or sixteen," she said calmly.
"Evidently!"
Posted on Friday, 20 October 2006
Sophia was always too busy after dinner to come back before bedtime and when she was not there, her husband had to be entertained. He was not often capable of reading a book. Anne gave him some credit for trying, but she had not once seen him read more than ten pages before he would address Frederick.
She pitied him a little. Although he did love his little girls, it was all too clear that Sophia had never been too far away before and that especially during the evenings he had no idea what to do with himself. Anne remarked on it when Admiral Croft had retired at a ridiculously early hour.
"As I suspected he is no longer her only baby," Frederick answered. "He has had all those months to prepare himself for the competition and yet…"
"His situation is the opposite of ours. We suddenly have somebody to entertain." The change for her was not as large, she supposed, since at Uppercross she had often been called upon to give somebody attention.
"What a hardship." He pulled her closer. "Do not feel too obliged. I am perfectly capable of amusing myself. I have had years of practice and although I did begin to long for company, I do still remember how to keep myself busy if you have something better to do."
"At the moment I do not." Anne allowed herself to be pulled into an embrace.
"My nieces have names," Frederick remarked when they were comfortably settled. They had been informed of that at dinner by a proud Sophia. "Amazing. It only took them about seven months. I did not want to say so for fear of having food thrown at my head, but I did think it."
"How long would it take you to come up with a name?" she wondered idly. She did not think food would have been thrown. He might have felt himself thwacked with a napkin instead, but it was quite some progress if he could imagine this beforehand. He must be feeling more comfortable about everything.
"I could probably begin thinking the moment you told me about a child." Surely the revelation would not affect him too much?
"From what I understood," Anne said with a cautious cough, "that was the moment on which he stopped thinking, rather."
"I do not have such moments." Frederick's tone was confident.
"That was one of them," she said in amusement, because he seemed to have forgotten about such moments in the recent past. "But seriously, if I told you, you could instantly start thinking?" Would he not be thrilled?
"I…" He looked down at Anne, who was stretched half across him. "No, I doubt it would be wise to pronounce anything on the subject, for it will undoubtedly go differently. You would not forget and you would laugh."
"Very likely."
"Tell me its name does not have to be Walter." He looked a little horrified. Walter Wentworth. It sounded terrible and even more so because he did not want to do Sir Walter the honour of naming anything after him at all, let alone a grandson.
"Not if it is a girl," Anne said lazily.
"But a boy!" he exclaimed.
"Mary has a Walter." Anne thought they were perfectly safe from any sort of expectations.
"Yes, I heard one of the savages was called Walter, but that does not mean you no longer have to name a son after your father as well." He was not sure about baronets and their self-importance. They might want to see their name perpetuated in every branch of the family tree.
"You could name it anything you liked, provided that I liked it too."
He tickled her and she squealed, which did not stop until Sophia spoke to them. They had no idea when or how she had appeared and gave her surprised looks.
"There are several servants wondering if you are all right, Anne," she said calmly, as if she did not wonder at all. She picked a pack of playing cards off one of the tables. "I hope you were not playing with these cards and I may take them upstairs?"
"Playing cards?" Frederick wondered. "No, we were not."
"Thank you. I was in doubt," said his sister, although it could not be clear to anyone how Anne could be playing cards lying down.
Frederick heaved Anne up to a more upright position, but it did not look any more innocent. "Are you going to play cards upstairs?"
Sophia raised her eyebrows. "Why is it odd for us to play cards upstairs, given what you are playing at downstairs?"
"But…cards?" He had thought they would be ready to go to sleep.
"Frederick, I have to practise my card-playing skills for the time when I am too old to engage in wrestling games with my husband."
"Do you mean you are not yet too old?"
"Do you think you will be too old in seven years?" she asked pointedly. He would very likely not think so. "Good night."
Sunday was tedious and rainy, and Monday was only slightly better. Sophia remade some of her gowns while the gentlemen did something boring in the study. Anne was in fact the only one who had nothing to do, but she alternately helped Sophia and the men, who merely pretended to know about business. All four of them were happy to be disturbed by visitors after a few hours.
The Crofts proved themselves quicker to react to altered family circumstances than Sir Walter, for not long after one of them had written they would come, they had come. Four brothers and a father had made the trip, leaving their house in the care of an uncle or two.
Admiral Croft was excited by their visit, even if he could not imagine they all wanted to hold the babies. He would be pleased enough if they all followed him to the nursery to admire his little beauties -- for they grew more beautiful by the day.
Sophia was a little wary, but she at least had the satisfaction of looking the way she had always done and she saw their looks of relief when they beheld her. She was no longer fat and round, but the ordinary Sophia, with nothing incomprehensible about her.
Anne was fascinated by the difference with which they treated Sophia. They no longer looked awed and frightened, but relieved now she was not carrying a child anymore. She was equally fascinated by how they did not mention the babies at all, but of course the admiral could be trusted to bring them up or even to lead them towards the nursery without saying so.
"James Frederick…" said Mr Croft when he realised he was being led up too many stairs. "Where precisely are we going?"
Sophia grasped Anne's arm. They had been following the group of gentlemen, perhaps to prevent them from turning back and running away, as Anne had thought in amusement. She could not think they would, not if they had come here because of the babies.
"To see your granddaughters."
This did not cause the expected flight, so Sophia's grip relaxed. "They would hardly have come if they did not want to see them!" Anne whispered at her.
Catherine and Margaret were on their best behaviour, awake and quiet. They did not mind being lifted up and held up for everybody to see. They did not even mind that their bonnets were taken off to show which side of the family they resembled.
"Good, good," Sophia muttered to Anne. "They do not have Wentworth hair. James knows how to make them attractive."
"They hardly have any hair at all," Anne whispered back.
"Anne," Sophia said sternly. "James says they have his hair, therefore they do. Who are we to deny him this thrilling observation?"
"All right," Anne said in a meek voice. She would concede they looked like the little Crofts they were. She was surprised by the gentlemen's manners. They certainly looked upon the little ones willingly and without visible distaste, even if they all politely declined holding them. Such interest must please Sophia exceedingly.
The edifying reading material they had brought as gifts for the little girls was accepted by Sophia with her best look of gratitude, although to Anne the books looked very much like the one the admiral had ridiculed and nothing that could be read in the next fifteen years or so.
"Perhaps Lady Russell would like to meet these paragons of good breeding," Sophia softly said to Anne. "Perhaps she would like to dine with us."
Anne could not instantly decide whether both sides were being mocked.
"Her opinion of us -- last time James and I were there, he asked me to let down my hair in return for the names and she looked as if this was akin to undressing."
"Because of Frederick. He --"
"Undressed?" Sophia was appalled.
"Not entirely, but she fainted anyhow. I cannot blame her for her opinion of sailors," Anne said dryly. The admiral could not be trusted any more than Frederick, which was rather a relief to hear. Bargaining for Sophia's hair to be let down! If he had such a great fascination with her hair, why did he want his daughters to have his?
"Please…" Sophia could not even voice her request for an explanation anymore. Her eyes and tone were pleading enough, however.
It was flattering and gratifying to be so entertaining and she gave in to the temptation at Frederick's expense. "He showed her his tattoo to explain how he felt."
After a snort Sophia ran out of the room and threw herself onto her bed. She hid her face and clutched the covers with her fists. Then she turned her head. "His -- Anne!"
Anne had followed her. "Yes, it indeed says Anne," she replied calmly.
Sophia was not as calm. "James says he has none. Where -- dare I even ask?"
"Hip." Anne bit her lip.
"And he -- no wonder the poor woman fainted," she exclaimed feelingly. She would have done the same in Lady Russell's position. Strange young men, whom she might not even like, exposing themselves to her in such a manner -- without advance warning, she wagered.
Fainting was really not a logical and inevitable consequence, Anne felt she had to point out. "Well, I never did when he showed it to me."
"You do not have a very weak constitution in that regard, I fear."
"You fear. Is that good or bad?" Perhaps she should have fainted, although fainting had never particularly appealed to her.
"Good for you and bad for him. Oh Anne!" Sophia rolled off the bed inelegantly. "We have made you into such a bad girl! Instead of you influencing me, I have been influencing you!"
"Could you influence my constitution?" Anne wondered. She did not think so. If this was indeed her constitution, Sophia had had nothing to do with it. And Sophia was not even bad.
"Well, no." Sophia looked at the door, where her husband was just appearing. "Oh. I hope you did not hear us."
"I heard some snorts as you ran past me," he replied with a dismissive wave. "That tells me you still have a bad effect on each other. We are going downstairs. We should like your company after you have recovered." He laid a light emphasis on after.
"Yes, my dear. We shall be with you in a few minutes."
Anne waited until he was gone and then she spoke very seriously. "I do not think Frederick would really like you to say anything about it. I should not have told you, but I was weak."
Sophia had breathed deeply a few times and apparently regained her composure. "Given the other things Frederick would not really like me to say anything about, I perfectly understand."
"And you very likely had those things repeated to you literally," Anne said in dismay. Frederick might as well have spoken to Sophia directly.
"Some, but is that bad? After he got hit he became rather clever, I heard." Sophia took Anne's arm and began to lead her out of the room. They had to play hostesses.
"Clever?" She realised belatedly that she must not sound so surprised. She knew he could be clever.
"Yes, if he were not so impatient about it all, he would in due time have been able to find the answers to his questions with your assistance. He does have something in his head, you know."
"Yes, I know -- that he has something in his head, not that I could be of assistance," Anne hurried to add. "Since they were my questions."
"Ah, were they? See, I was not told everything literally. Did he receive all his answers? James thinks it should be done and not discussed, you see, so I doubt his ability to explain it in a sensible manner."
"Both of them seem to be fine as long as it can be explained in sailing terms," Anne said with a shrug.
"Well, if you think that a sensible manner I can have nothing to say about it. Sailing terms." Sophia shook her head. "I know they like sailing, but I had thought they liked us a little better."
Posted on Monday, 23 October 2006
Anne knew that by the time they arrived downstairs they should have recovered well enough to appear composed. She had felt the need even more keenly than Sophia, since she felt it to be her responsibility to keep Sophia well-behaved. There was no telling what the Croft gentlemen might do to upset her. The balance was not as precarious as before, but Anne did not trust it completely. Perhaps Sophia could be distracted, but she could not instantly think of a topic that would not lead to their visitors eventually.
She had still not thought of anything when they reached the door to the drawing room, so she went in and hoped it would be fine.
Frederick looked curious when she sat down by him. "What were Sophia and you doing?" he whispered as his sister saw to the refreshments.
Anne briefly laid her hand over his to reassure him and she gave him a little smile as well. "Laughing."
"Tell me later," he requested.
"Perhaps." She smiled again and then addressed the gentleman on his other side, about whom she had forgotten everything except that he was the eldest son they had once encountered outside. "How is the progress on the new house? Is it continuing in spite of the cold?"
"It has not been too cold, so there has been a little progress. We shall not be able to live there before the summer, I estimate." He gave the admiral a glance. "But it does of course not contain a nursery."
Anne suppressed a laugh. They needed not fear that a nursery was required, unless they had plans of their own. "I think they could all share a room if they visit -- if your father allows it, of course."
Mr Croft gave her a cautious look. "He has never allowed it, which is why he had a fit when you were visiting and Sophia implied they had secretly been engaging in room-switching in the past."
She stared. "Oh." That exchange about activities under his roof made a little more sense to her now. Of course old Mr Croft would have been a little miffed upon finding out that the orders he had always believed to have been obeyed had in fact been ignored in secret.
"James Frederick was always ordered to share with me," said Mr Croft. "And therefore Sophia's provocative comment landed me in some trouble."
"You cannot know where he went if you were asleep," said Frederick. He would have loved to hear that comment of Sophia's, whatever it had been. It was bound to amuse him. He was married now too. "And what did she say?"
"What sort of trouble?" Anne looked a little shocked. She did not think Sophia had ever considered that something like that might happen. Sophia might have held her tongue otherwise.
"I am afraid I could repeat her exact comment even if I remembered," Mr Croft said to Frederick apologetically. It had been a little too shocking for him. "But I incurred the wrath of our father for never having locked James Frederick in my room."
Frederick wondered who had failed to lock old Mr Croft into his room in the past -- or perhaps they had locked him in together with Mrs Croft, which rather defeated the purpose -- but he felt Anne could be proud of him for not voicing these thoughts. He restricted himself to a cough. "Why should you have locked him in, assuming you could not foresee he was going to leave?"
"I was always aware of his intentions, because he always told me where he was going. But if it had not been for Sophia, my father would never have found out."
"Do you blame her?" Anne was already wondering how she could make excuses for Sophia.
"No, because she would never have had to make the comment if my father had not issued such an order to a married couple in the first place."
"Will he do so here as well?" Frederick asked with a sideways glance at Anne. There were several people who would protest and he was one of them. Married for only a few days and already he could not do without Anne.
Anne nudged his knee before he would begin to voice how strongly he objected to being separated from his wife. She quite agreed with him on that issue, but Mr Croft here would neither care nor understand. "But the house," she said quickly. "We were speaking of the house."
Mr Croft gave her a grateful look. He was more conversant with houses and buildings than with sleeping arrangements, and he had been regretting his slip of the tongue.
Sophia, after providing everyone with refreshments, had the unenviable task of keeping her father-in-law entertained. She was intent on being well-mannered, but she could not help but ask an important question. "What do you think of your granddaughters?"
"I think nothing yet," he replied. "Is there any hope for a grandson?"
She felt as if her breath was knocked out of her. "I see I should not have been so stupid as to ask what you think of mere girls," she said in a tight voice. She had finally managed to produce some offspring and then it was considered to be of the wrong kind. "I wonder why you came hither. Is it only to remind me of my failure?"
"No, you misunderstand me."
"Oh, really," she said bitterly, blinking furiously. "You had best restrict yourself to asking me for another cup and ask your other questions of your son and not of me." She would not give in to her urge to walk away, but she would show him she had better manners.
She sat in silence until it was time for the twins. Then she rose and contemplated not asking for assistance. It would take longer if she did not and she was eager for a good reason to be away. "I must," she gestured to the ceiling when she caught her husband's eye. She knew he could not come with her.
"What did you say to Sophia?" Admiral Croft asked his father. Sophia had not seemed in good spirits when she went upstairs, although he had thought she had exchanged but a few words with his father. Perhaps those few had been more than enough.
"Something she misunderstood, after which she told me not to ask her any more than for a new cup. So I did not. Did she wait all this while before running off in a huff? That is odd."
"Our daughters have to be nursed."
Old Mr Croft looked disgusted. "By Sophia?"
The admiral nodded solemnly. "I am not built for it, unfortunately. Why are you asking?"
"For no particular reason. So Sophia is now quite into having children, is she? Where did they come from all of a sudden?"
Such a question might account for Sophia's mood. "Did you ask her that as well? To be honest it is beginning to annoy me slightly that everyone is now asking me where the children came from so suddenly. I seem to be surrounded by insensitive fools."
"I consider it a perfectly valid question. You had none before. Will you have more now?"
"Oh lord, the son you wrote about?" Admiral Croft groaned. He closed his eyes for a second. "Please tell me you did not ask Sophy when she was going to have that son." It was not wise to ask about sons if she just had daughters and she would never have any children again. He wished he could talk to her, but that must be put off until they all retired to prepare for dinner.
"Not when, no, but I thought that perhaps you had been putting it off until now for some reason and in that case it was a very valid question."
He did not want to get into that matter. "She will not have any more. Why this sudden interest in continuing the line?" Nobody in the family had ever appeared to consider that important before, afraid as they were of anything female.
"It is the new house, I suppose. I awoke one day and realised none of you were becoming any younger."
"What an epiphany," the admiral muttered. "And then you also realised that when we are all gone, there will be nobody to live in that new house, because nobody was ever encouraged to take an interest in starting families."
"Precisely."
"Have you now begun to encourage them all?" Such an attempt could not be very successful, although it might be amusing.
"That is not necessary, because we have you and you are having children," said Mr Croft.
"Yes, two. Is Henry going to leave the house to one of them?" He did not see why it should matter that they were girls.
"He may have to do that if you will not have sons, because he says he will certainly not have any himself anymore."
"Well, yes, at forty-three he is much too old to father a child. I quite agree. The other three do not have the excuse of old age. What is their opinion on the matter?" the admiral asked, as if he did not already know that all four were or claimed to be completely uninterested.
"The same. Therefore we had focused all our hopes on you, but now you say you will not have any more and Sophia very nearly murdered me for asking."
"Of course she did. It is not a very tactful thing to ask about sons if she has just had daughters and she knows she will not have anything else." It was difficult to remain tactful himself, but he must. It was his father.
"Oh," said Mr Croft. "How does she know that?"
"Let us not get into how she knows. Let us look instead at how you practically told her that granddaughters mean nothing to you." He was not certain that was indeed the case, although perhaps some of that was hope.
Anne had begun to discover which names belonged to which men, although the youngest three talked very little. They seemed rather shy, if such an affliction was still allowed in gentlemen their age. Anne did not think she was the reason for their silence. They said just as little to Frederick.
She retired early to dress and Frederick went with her, despite not needing so long to change. "What were you and Sophia laughing about?" he asked. He had not forgotten.
"The similarities in our situations," she said after some hesitation.
He was instantly alert. "Situations?"
"Not that," she answered, knowing what he must mean. "We cannot know that yet. And you mean conditions. And I could never tell her before I told you. But we were commiserating about our husbands."
"What did we do now?" he sighed.
"Not much. I was simply glad to hear that other husbands also occasionally forget some of their manners and calmness. I do not mind, but Lady Russell, for example, may, and therefore Sophia invited her to dinner to meet, as she put it, the paragons of good breeding."
"Because they compare favourably to us?" Frederick sounded disbelieving. "Anne! What silly women you are! They hardly speak. If they are well-bred at all, nobody will ever find out."
She laughed. "But I think she needs the presence of a stranger to stick to her own good manners, really."
"Sophia? Will she make more provocative comments otherwise? What did she say on that occasion? He would not repeat it, but I cannot imagine it was very bad. Sophia is generally not considered very bad, except perhaps by an extremely peculiar sort of people."
"The admiral's father, who broached the subject, did not want something to happen under his roof and Sophia replied that it was either that or childbirth that visit. I now understand she told him it had happened on previous visits, but I did not really understand it then. I think I may know what she meant now."
"They really are paragons of good breeding to discuss all of that so openly," Frederick said sarcastically. "Is it wise to expose Lady Russell to them?"
She thought it was only the father, who had merely been reacting in shock. There were probably not going to be more shocks for anyone. "You would compare favourably in that case."
"That is true," he admitted. "But do you think I compare favourably only if I behave?"
Posted on Thursday, 26 October 2006
"Your mother had a tryst with a passing sailor nine months before you were born," Sophia said when her husband joined her in their room. She had been dwelling on that for some time and it was too good a thought not to share with him.
He knew what she was saying and why, but he nevertheless had to respond. "Did he pass by very regularly?" They all looked sufficiently alike and they even resembled their father.
She did not answer and looked at the baby who had just finished nursing. The other one had finished long before and Sophia had managed to lower her onto the bed. She now laid them side by side and adjusted her gown, concentrating wholly on these important tasks.
"Why did you not ask anyone for assistance?" asked the admiral.
"I did not mind that it would take me longer on my own. I wanted to be alone with them and we liked it quite well." She had mostly been angry and sitting with the little ones had calmed her very well. They needed her and no one else.
Sophia seemed calm now and Admiral Croft could ask her this question. "Would you accept my father's apologies?"
"Apologies?" she asked in contempt. "Does he even know what those are and for which they are required?"
"I told him so."
"And he understood that and wished to offer them? Because…" He might not understand at all, but simply have been told to apologise.
"Because I do not want…" He looked into her eyes, but they were not at all red. It relieved him that she had either not cried at all or very little. He had been fearing she was very upset. "He is in the sitting room."
"You counted on my going there," she observed. He would not have sent his father there if he had not been absolutely certain.
"I did." He had a sensible wife who would realise what was the best course of action to preserve and restore good family relationships.
"Then you must look after the girls. And lay out my clothes. And do not forget to dress yourself." She allowed him to help her off the bed and she leant against him for a moment. She always did what he asked, but the reverse did not always happen.
He looked relieved to hear she would go instantly. "You expect a long apology."
No, she expected him to become distracted and she smiled. "I am merely telling you what you could do if I stayed away for a long time."
The opportunity was too excellent to pass up. He grinned. "Shall I tell you what we could do if you stayed away for a short time?"
"In sailing terms, my dear Admiral?" she asked archly. "But I am still out of commission, as you well know."
Before he could ask who had mentioned those sailing terms to her, she was out of the room.
Sophia realised she was still smiling when she came into the sitting room and she quickly checked herself. There was no reason to smile at Mr Croft, not after what he had said to her. She met him with a grave face instead.
"Sophia," he said, rising from his seat. "I was told I gave you the wrong impression."
She was not certain her impression had been so very wrong, but she waited patiently. She studied him in the meantime. Unfortunately it looked as if her theory about the passing sailor was wrong, for there was enough of a resemblance to his son. It was a pity, because she had rather liked her theory.
"And that my speaking of a grandson had made you think that granddaughters were worthless," said Mr Croft.
At least someone had understood her, but given that he usually did she was not surprised. "Yes."
"That is not entirely what I was thinking."
"Not entirely," she could not help but echo. Granddaughters were not entirely worthless then, but that was a dubious sort of relief.
He spoke on. "I did not know you could not have any more, so I had assumed you were merely beginning at a later age and that from now on you would have a few more."
Sophia clasped her hands firmly together behind her back. "Oh." She forced herself not to say or do anything else.
"And that one of those would be a boy. I do not know what to do with girls. I never had any, not really. But James Frederick says you will not have more than these, although he did not want to explain why," he said, implying such an unexplained remark had not satisfied him.
"For the preservation of our sanity," she replied as serenely as she could. "We ought to be happy with what we are given and not demand more."
"Yes." He looked unconvinced. "But my knowledge of his character is such that I could well believe him to have been sufficiently happy with what he had before, so that he may not have exerted himself very much to get more if this could lead to losing what he had."
Sophia narrowed her eyes. "Ah. I see. And now you believe such a risk has been removed by the peace?"
"Yes, I do."
She did not want to go into that matter. "Watching the birth makes a man think of new risks."
"Watching?" Mr Croft said in horror. "That is not for men."
"No, it is not," she agreed. "But it happened nevertheless. What about my daughters?" She wanted to hear the apology she had come for.
"We are all pleased you had such fine and healthy little girls."
"Thank you," Sophia answered. She did not immediately accept it as sincere, however. "Is that a genuine sentiment or prompted by threats of being hit?"
"If you mean James Frederick, he would not raise his hand to his father."
She sighed and realised that was probably true. Also, if he could not do it himself he would very likely not appreciate his wife doing it in his stead. "That you perceive yourself to be free from repercussions does not mean you are free to be as insulting as you like. And you were very insulting," she told him calmly.
"It was not my intention to insult you, Sophia."
"You began by lamenting that James had succumbed." She could still not interpret that in a complimentary light, since it implied she was the evil influence behind everything.
"That was mere surprise," he defended himself.
"You have five sons. I do not know how you could consciously speak such nonsense." The man made no sense to her whatsoever and perhaps she should break off the conversation. It would be the wisest thing to do.
He looked away. "I prefer not to think of those days. Do not speak of them."
Five spells of weakness must weigh heavily on a man's mind. Sophia nodded in understanding. "Perhaps when I am old and cranky I shall feel the same about these days, but for the time being I am still living them."
"Let us hope you are among the fortunate females who live long enough to become old and cranky," he said grumpily.
Sophia looked after him thoughtfully as he left the room. She returned to her bedchamber and discovered nothing had changed there. The babies were still on the bed, James had not changed his clothes, nor had he laid out hers. He was merely lying there with his arms behind his head. "Sometimes you really are useless," she complained.
He removed one arm from behind his head and pulled her down when she came close enough. "Yes, I am terribly useless, but it does not bother me. Are you feeling any better?"
She lowered herself into his arms. "I may feel sorry for him, but he did not tell me enough for that. So I am a little uneasy. How could that be, if he told me nothing?"
"He does not tell me everything either."
"I do not know what to think. But if there is a period he does not want to think of, perhaps it was not a happy period?"
"Or it was. We cannot know if he will not tell us. But there is one thing he will do," the admiral said confidently. "He will hold them before he leaves. I shall see to that."
"I do not want him to drop them," Sophia said anxiously.
"Do you think I do? No. But one cannot appreciate a person without having held her."
"Hmm, there is something in that," she said before she realised she was being held as well. "Oh! What do you want now?"
"Nothing. I am too lazy to get up and return them to their beds. Close your eyes and rest. We should rest whenever we can."
Everybody was downstairs in anticipation of dinner, except the host and hostess. Lady Russell had quickly been invited to try and make up the female numbers at dinner, an invitation she had accepted out of curiosity. She nevertheless felt some hesitation, but the fact that the other Crofts were not sailors had convinced her. She sat by Anne after having had a string of gentlemen introduced to her who were all Mr Croft, with no other names to distinguish them.
"I am not sure of their names," Anne whispered. "I thought I had best avoid them. They all have two names, you see, and I do not know in which order they should be used. The admiral knows, of course, and he would have introduced them better, but I do not know why he is not yet here. Frederick, can you not go and look where they are?"
"Who knows what they might be doing?" he replied. "No."
"But it is more my duty to stay here than yours."
He groaned and got up. Perhaps he would indeed rather go upstairs than stay to entertain Lady Russell. He did not really know what to say to her.
"Last time we went there," Anne explained to Lady Russell. "We seemed to have interrupted a tête-à-tête, although they denied that."
"He would knock. There is no need to interrupt anything."
"I suppose he would knock this time," Anne said doubtfully. "The previous time the door was open and we were carrying the babies."
Frederick knocked softly, but there was no response. He hesitated, but when there was no reaction to subsequent knocks either, he opened the door and peered in. There was enough light to make out a shape on the bed. No, two, three -- he kept seeing more. The largest shape was motionless, but the smallest two seemed to be waving their arms.
He approached the bed and saw that the large shape consisted of two people, who appeared to have fallen asleep. He groaned at the sight. They were terribly negligent lately. Their daughters might roll off the bed, although he did not know whether they could do more than wave yet.
Frederick sat down and softly spoke to them. He took one of the little fists that was being waved with uncontrolled movements. "Oh! You have such a cold hand! Your Mama and Papa are being very bad again, as usual. What shall Uncle Frederick do with you? Or with them? Shall I steal you? Catherine would not mind if I stole her. She likes me. But perhaps Catherine will want to stay with Mama until she can eat from a spoon, because Aunt Anne says she cannot feed you."
"Before you continue your sweet talk, know that I can hear you," Sophia said in a sleepy voice. "What are you doing here, Frederick?"
He looked indignant to hide his embarrassment. "Everybody is assembled for dinner except you. Anne ordered me to look. I knocked and no one answered. Then I found this." He indicated the bed, although his sister was keeping her eyes closed.
"Dinner. Why now?"
"It is always at the same time. It has not been changed to annoy you. I suppose you are not dressed for dinner yet either?" She looked to be wearing the same dress as earlier.
"I cannot remember what I am wearing. Do I have to get up?" She was too comfortable where she was and she made no effort to move.
"Sophia! You have a house full of guests! And dinner is about to be served." Frederick was appalled at her laziness.
"But they are all family. They cannot mind."
"Wake up that thing beneath you and move."
"That thing is awake," said the admiral. "I heard you knock, but I was not very willing to remove this thing on top of me to answer the door. The poor thing needs her rest. While we change, you could put your little friends in their beds, could you not?"
Frederick lifted one up. He gave a sniff at the realisation that his entire speech had been overheard. "I think I should steal them. Anne and I should be much more attentive to them."
Posted on Sunday, 29 October 2006
"They will be downstairs shortly," Frederick reported to Anne. He had not known how soon that would be, so he had taken the precaution of requesting dinner to be announced some five minutes later than usual.
"Did you knock?" she asked. She wondered if she should trust him more.
"Of course I knocked! There was no reply and I had to look in to see if they were there at all and they were. Apparently once one has children, one may blame them for one's negligence and indifference and fatigue. But I told them to move, so they will be here soon," he spoke confidently. He trusted they would see reason. They had guests.
"Does the admiral take your orders, Captain?" Anne asked in amusement.
"Hmm," he replied doubtfully, remembering how he had been ordered to put the twins to bed and how he had obeyed. "I told him I would steal his children if they did not take better care of them, so…perhaps."
Anne thought they might have been tired because they took good care of them, especially during the night, but she did not say so. She merely looked admiringly at her husband. He would be a caring father.
Lady Russell felt faintly unwell and looked away, seeing that the nearest of the Mr Crofts also looked slightly disturbed at this lack of rationality, or perhaps the excess of sentimentality. Because the happy couple beside her looked to be as indifferent to other guests as the happy couple upstairs, she had no choice but to turn towards this Mr Croft and to engage him in some conversation. "Have you all travelled here to see your nieces?"
Although this question offered him a distraction from disturbing sights, he was evidently not accustomed to being addressed by ladies, or even meeting with ladies. He stuttered slightly and looked frightened. "Y-Y-Yes, madam."
"I understood the entire family live together, your father and brothers."
"Yes, madam."
"Are all of you unmarried?" She supposed they were, since Anne and Mrs Croft had once said there were only men where they were going.
"Yes, we are. That is why we all live together."
"You must have a reasonably large house to accommodate so many gentlemen." She reasoned, of course, from her late husband's number of private rooms and from having heard how many Sir Walter Elliot had at his disposal, all of which were absolutely necessary for his comfort.
Houses appeared to interest this Mr Croft, because he began to look more animated. "Reasonably so, but it is too old to last another generation, so I am having a new one built beside it. I made improvements on the floor plans compared to the old house, taking out all the unnecessary rooms, for instance, and adding some more useful spaces. The new house is slightly larger, although I made it so that it will be less costly to heat and it will of course have all the latest developments in plumbing."
Lady Russell received this suddenly animated speech in some astonishment. She had been expecting another short answer. "Improvements? Did you draw the plans yourself?"
"Mostly," he nodded. "But I consulted some people for very technical details."
She looked bemused at the explanation of some of those details that followed. She would almost think he knew enough not to have to consult anybody. "Is it your profession?"
"I run my father's estate, madam, but it is not very big, so I can indulge myself by having my own interests."
"Building," she guessed.
"No, drawing." He coloured a little, as if he was afraid he would now be asked to show proof of his talents that instant.
"Are you an artist?"
"No, madam. I like drawing for practical purposes and to occupy myself. I could not create something for other people to…" He looked modest again. "No. But I do enjoy studying art."
Due to Frederick's foresight in having dinner put back for five minutes, nobody was late. Sophia never particularly enjoyed accompanying her father-in-law into the dining room, but he had always had enough manners to insist on this at his home, so she must do the same. With a similarly lax hold on her daughters he would surely drop them, she thought, although perhaps the lax hold was how it was supposed to be -- Lady Russell looked as if she was being dragged instead of led in by James. Sophia wondered if she should say anything, or if he had perhaps merely been whispering something Lady Russell considered strange.
Suddenly he turned to ask a question of his father. "Does David eat onions nowadays?"
Poor Lady Russell looked rather twisted now and Sophia felt she had to speak up. "James, be careful not to dislocate Lady Russell's shoulder."
"My apologies." He relaxed his grip on her. "But the onions?"
"He will eat what he is served," said Mr Croft.
"He will not be served onions," Sophia said mildly. "I know there are two who do not like onions. David and…" She could not recall the other. In fact, she would not have been able to recall the name David either if he had not just been mentioned.
"David and his second name, Sophy," the admiral winked.
"Why do they all have two names?" she complained.
Anne had been amused by several things. First, she had looked with interest at Lady Russell's conversation about art, chimney pieces and staircases with the eldest brother. If she had not heard this incorrectly, he was even going to call at Kellynch Lodge to examine the interior. It was a miracle he would dare to set foot in the lady's house, although he spoke of bringing his brother Rupert.
Then, she had been amused by Sophia's not knowing which of them answered to the name David when a special dish for him was being carried in, and equally amused at his clumsily expressed gratitude.
"She remembered," he said in awe. That she did not remember his name was something he had apparently not noticed. Perhaps he was used to it.
"No such allowances are made for you at home?" Anne guessed.
"Yes, but I had not expected them here. I forgot to tell her, but she remembered. I should think she has more than enough to occupy her mind to remember something as trivial as my tastes."
Anne had now got two of them to speak and she was quite proud of herself. That she was now seated between those two made it difficult to engage the other two in conversation. It was not her duty, she reminded herself, so she could not feel too much guilt about that. If it was not their own responsibility to speak, it was Sophia's duty to make them, she supposed, but there were too many Crofts. Lady Russell was even completely surrounded by them.
Although Lady Russell was not as afraid of strange men as the Crofts were of strange women, she was a little afraid of their manners. They were not sailors, but they might do unexpected things in spite of that. After having been seated for a few minutes she felt a little more reassured. She would more likely be bored at this end of the table than shocked. Only Admiral Croft spoke, but his conversation was solely on the new additions to his family -- what they could do at present and what they could do in the future.
"Father was wrong," said his nearest brother after some exasperated looks. "It was not Sophia's brain that was in danger of rotting, but yours."
"My brain is neither rotting nor shrinking, but expanding," the admiral said confidently. "But if you wish you may change the topic to something more to your liking. It would involve contributing to the conversation, however."
After dinner Sophia left them again. Anne could not join her, since that would leave Lady Russell completely alone with all the gentlemen. They went on ahead together while the men lingered and Anne used the opportunity to ask Lady Russell what she thought.
"They are a trifle odd, but I suppose that comes of living all together," said Lady Russell. "With no ladies in the entire family except one who was abroad or at sea. I did not receive the impression they dine out often, which I at least do, in spite of not having any gentlemen in my house."
"But I thought I heard…" Anne said hesitantly. "That Mr Croft will visit you tomorrow."
"Oh, not me. He wishes to draw chimney pieces and ceilings and staircases for his new house. I described the style and he was interested."
"But you must have some tea with him then, I suppose."
"I must have some tea brought to him and his brother, yes, but I doubt he would mind if I did not drink it with them. He appears to be more interested in drawing than in drinking tea. But he is welcome to make sketches of the interior of Kellynch Lodge. This here is too large, I think. You were there. What do you say?"
"I only saw the old house," Anne said cautiously. "I do not think they had anything to do with how it looks on the inside, but something new would be closer to the Lodge than to the Hall in size and style, I suppose." She bit her lip. "You are going to leave him to fend for himself."
"That is what he would prefer. Anne, I am receiving the impression that you think it amusing."
"I do, somewhat, but that is because I saw how they thought Sophia rather frightening when she was with child." They had seemed rather wary of ladies in general and completely frightened of the ones who did things they could not do, yet they would call on Lady Russell. Anne did not see why her amusement would have to be explained.
"With child. Which I am not," Lady Russell reminded her. She glanced at her waist. "And I do not even look it. Does that make me less frightening? Why did they think so in the first place?"
"Sophia thinks procreation is a great mystery to them."
"And so it should be for unmarried men," Lady Russell said approvingly. "But I can nevertheless not believe it. The ones who sat by me at the table were not particularly uninformed about the world at large."
"By that you mean they read the papers."
"The ones who sat by me were well-read, more so than the admiral." They had not said much, but they had betrayed informed minds and an interest in cultured topics of which she had approved.
Anne knew he had at least been within touching distance of a newspaper because he had hit Frederick with one, but she could not say whether he had read it too. To avoid having to give an explanation she refrained from mentioning the hitting incident, or even the incident with the books in her room, which implied he had familiarised himself with the library at least.
"It is a pity you cannot play yet," Lady Russell commented with a glance at Anne's arm. "All the gentlemen here are so quiet that some music might be useful. I think they may even appreciate some, the ones who sat near me. When will you be able to use your arm again?"
"It has been almost long enough, I think."
"When you think it is healed, give it some extra rest with a view to your husband. He might stop being careful with you otherwise."
Anne giggled at this advice. "I shall ask him if it makes a difference." She had enough confidence in him to ask.
"Anne! You would not."
But Anne would and she asked the question of Frederick when she gave him some coffee. She had made certain he was the last to receive his cup, so she had enough time for a little chat. "Will you be less careful with me when my arm is completely healed? Lady Russell thinks so."
"Why does everyone think I am some sort of…" He could not even think of an appropriate word that described all of those things of which they suspected him at once.
"I do not think so," Anne soothed. She sat down beside him, despite not yet having a drink herself.
"It would be odd if you did, since you married me. You obviously think highly of me. And why is Lady Russell wondering about your arm? I do approve of concern for you, but this is rather an odd matter to think about -- if a person is not you or me, that is."
"She would like me to play, because nobody would have to make conversation in that case, she thinks. You and I fared fairly well with the ones sitting around us, did we not?" She did not think they could not talk at all. They needed some more time, perhaps.
"I was forced to, because Sophia was not saying much, only to you and me, in fact. Is she still not over whatever is ailing her?" He thought his sister had been rather silent.
"The birth? That takes some time to heal."
"Her head!" Frederick said hurriedly. "I am not interested in other things. Except, of course, if they happened to you."