Beginning, Previous Section, Section XII, Next Section
Posted on Wednesday, 1 November 2006
The next morning Mr Henry Croft and Mr Rupert Croft called at Kellynch Lodge. Their progress had unbeknownst to them been tracked with the telescopes, but at some point they had gone out of sight. They had nevertheless reached the Lodge and presented themselves there with drawing materials. Those were in fact all Henry's, because Rupert did not draw. He had, on account of being the youngest, been forced to accompany his eldest brother.
Lady Russell received them most kindly. She knew they would not impose on her time too much if drawing was their object. It was not something with which she could help them. She could provide some information on artistic styles and fashions, but Mr Croft had appeared knowledgeable about that himself and as such her presence would not be required.
She had some tea served and discussed with them where they would like to begin sketching first. She gave them permission to work in any room except her private apartments, the location of which she had indicated on a hastily sketched floor plan. Fortunately both gentlemen immediately declared their unwillingness to disturb her there.
After the tea and this conversation, Lady Russell went out to make some calls of her own. Considering that the sketching Mr Croft had the company of his brother, she did not need to stay and she had already seen he would work with such great concentration that he was hardly noticing who was with him.
She returned a few hours later to find that the idle brother had left out of boredom and that the busy brother had been working so hard that he had not yet touched the refreshments that had been served to him in the meantime.
His work was good, but perhaps unnecessary. She did not think it truly needed to be so detailed and perfect, but she supposed he enjoyed what he was doing. From the hall he had moved into the drawing room, which made it easier for her to check up on his progress. At the rate he was going, he would be here all week.
"Has your brother left you?" she asked after she had wondered for a while whether it would disturb him very much if she spoke.
Apparently it did not, although he did not look up. "He realised he had better things to do."
"And you do not really need him." He did not need anyone. He did not even notice anyone. He was completely engrossed in his drawing. She did not blame the brother for having left him.
"No."
"Are you planning to do a complete reconstruction of the interior of Kellynch Lodge?" Lady Russell inquired. That would be odd, although it was a fine house.
Startled, Mr Croft reached for his tea. It was cold and he grimaced. "No."
She thought the tea might have been there for hours and rang the bell. She watched as he searched through a pile of sketches.
"This," he showed her, "is your staircase with modifications. And so is this. And this."
"Ah. I am not surprised it is taking you very long to draw everything if you make several drawings of every thing." He would indeed be here all week. What was she to do with him all week? He would be able to keep himself busy, certainly if he moved into other rooms of the house, but she would nevertheless have to remember that he was here. Politeness forbade her to send him away.
He looked astonished. "But…do you not understand?"
"I suppose I do, in a sense," she said hesitantly. She was not certain she understood it completely. "Do your father and brothers have any say in the matter?"
"Some. They may look at the drawings and give their opinions as to what they prefer."
Lady Russell received the tea set and poured him another cup. "You should drink it before it gets cold," she advised him. "Or ask for new tea."
"I am never thirsty when I am working. Only afterwards." But his hand reached for the cup nonetheless.
"But you do not seem to reach the afterwards stage very soon."
"When I am busy I may forget about the time. I shall not mind if you or your husband remind me of it, though."
Lady Russell gave him a good stare, but he seemed utterly guileless. "Did you not notice there was no husband with me last night?" She had more experience with gentlemen who did and who acted accordingly, but even the ones who did not act upon it ought to have noticed that she had attended the dinner at Kellynch Hall all by herself. Perhaps someone had even explained beforehand who she was.
He raised his eyes. "But I thought you were there to raise the number of women, which would not work if you brought more men."
This simple logic bemused her. "So…I left him at home?"
Mr Croft was completely indifferent to what she might have done with her husband. "Er…yes?"
Perhaps this Mr Croft would gladly be left at home if his wife was invited to make up the numbers, but that did not explain why he had not noticed the absence of a husband here in her own house. "And that you have not yet seen him today means…"
"That he is busy?"
"Dead," she corrected. "Quite dead."
"Dead?" Apparently this had never occurred to him and he winced. "I am sorry to hear that. I am sorry I did not give it any thought."
Although Lady Russell did not understand how he could not have thought, she was not pained by his misapprehension. "It has been a long time."
What with all the gentlemen being out of the house for various reasons, Anne sat upstairs with Sophia and played with the telescope. Sophia was trying to write some letters, but Anne had none to write. If her father had written back, she could have replied, but he had not. She could write the same things to Elizabeth to see if they were going to be passed on, but her sister really had nothing to do with the matter.
"Should I go to Bath if my father does not write, do you think?" she asked when Sophia paused her writing to glance out of the window.
"Hmm. Yes, if only so you know his mind. You will not have to stay there long. Tell him and see what he has to say about his silence. Is he the sort to expect you to take the first step?"
"But I did," Anne protested.
"He may not count a letter as such." It had been Lady Russell's opinion that he could not travel to Kellynch while there were other people living here. He might think Anne should come to see him.
"I should really prefer to stay here without having to think of it." Yet she knew that was impossible.
Sophia knew that too. "But you know you will keep thinking of it until you have dealt with it."
"Yes."
"Then go."
There was more that was bothering Anne, although that was of a more trivial nature and she really should not complain of it. "But Frederick also wants to buy me half of Bath."
"Frederick…" said his sister. "Well, you must grow used to that. He has money and a worthy object on whom to spend it. Allow him to give you a little. Besides," she added with a mischievous look. "If you ever have any children your share of gifts will become less anyhow. It may not take all that long." For both their sakes she hoped it did not.
Anne coloured and cast down her eyes. She picked up the telescope again and focused on the park. Hopefully Sophia would not ask anything.
"If you suddenly find yourself inexplicably tired…" Sophia continued.
"I will not tell you before I tell Frederick." That would be unfair.
"Such sisterly loyalty. But you may always ask me something before you tell Frederick."
"Yes, Sophia." She waited a few seconds, but as usual she could not be strong. "And when does all of that begin?"
"James fell ill straightaway," Sophia said reflectively. "Well, when he woke the following morning."
"But…" Anne was confused. James was a man. "Why should he fall ill? He was not carrying a child."
"No, but he had caught a cold because I had not interfered quickly enough. He does not have trifling colds. He has near-fatal runny noses." She looked grave, but quite clearly she never considered them nearly fatal.
"What does that mean?"
"That he feels very sorry for himself in such a case -- but also that such a man has no desire to do anything with me, nor do I have any desire to do anything with him." She was mischievous again. "That, I am afraid, must be very shocking to you as a newly-married woman, but --"
"Sophia!"
Sophia pulled a straight face. "That lasted for at least two Sundays and when he was on the mend again, I was beginning to feel slightly unwell in the mornings. It did not feel like a cold to me at all, so I did not think it could come of having taken care of my very, very sick man, the poor baby. Then I remembered what I had done before he fell ill and that was rather more in line with the location of my complaints."
"Oh. But could it not have been the time before that? Frederick was told one cannot know." It might take even longer to know in that case.
"Yes, Frederick and his thousands of attempts," Sophia said indulgently. "I am, however, married to James. It was not in the right week." She glanced at Anne, who was still peering through the telescope as if she did not care much for the conversation. She was not fooled. "It must be in the right week, or perhaps even on the right day for me, or it will not work."
"Hmm, Rupert Magnus is returning from Lady Russell's, but did he leave Henry Alexander there?" Sophia observed through the telescope. She had picked it up while Anne was studying a calendar and she had been looking at the park, where nothing had been happening until now.
Anne did not really hear her. "Hmm."
"What could Lady Russell be doing with Henry?" Sophia wondered out loud.
"Nothing?" Anne was not interested in either person, not at present, and she reluctantly looked up. "I thought you did not know their names." But here Sophia mentioned two for each man.
"Numbers three and four always confuse me. Numbers one, two and five do not."
"I think I should speak to Frederick." It was a pity she did not know where he had gone. All the men had gone outside and she would have to wait until they returned.
"About the calendar?" Sophia asked instantly.
"No, about Bath. You are really…" Single-minded, Anne added to herself, although she knew it was all well-intended.
"Helpful. It took me ages to work it out. You will not want the same. I am helpful and selfish. Frederick threatened to steal my girls. He should have some of his own so he will not take mine."
"Do not be afraid. He will not take your girls from you," Anne reassured her.
"Are you thinking of going to Bath before all the Crofts are gone?" Sophia contemplated remaining here alone with them. She did not know why that was such a problem. She had stayed with them before and survived. Only the very last visit had been vexing.
"I shall not leave you with them if you wish. I had not yet decided on anything. I wanted to speak to Frederick about it." She would of course stay if Sophia asked for it.
"Your own business must take precedence. You cannot go to your father and tell him you were delayed because you had to guide me through a visit from my husband's relatives, that you had to hold my hand and teach me how to behave like a lady. How would that affect the lease?"
"Not at all?" Anne said after a moment. "Because I would never tell him such a thing."
Posted on Saturday, 4 November 2006
"Your brother Henry may not have come back from Kellynch Lodge," Sophia warned the admiral when he returned to his room. "Only Rupert did."
He knew they had not gone out with the other men, but there had been so many others left that he had not really noticed their absence. "Why did Rupert go there in the first place? He does not draw and he has no interest in staircases. Nobody has. They are for going up and down only."
"Well, I do not know, but it looks as if he escaped as soon as he could and now your brother Henry is there alone." She had not noticed him return and dinner was fast approaching. He might have come in -- she could not watch every side of the house -- but it was also likely that he had not and in that case she wished to be prepared.
Admiral Croft looked delighted with something. "Henry has fallen into the clutches of the lusty widow. I like that."
She gave him her best motherly look. "James, I knew you would say something utterly impossible and that is why I am broaching the topic in private, so you will not set Lady Russell up for trouble at the dinner table."
He looked perfectly careless of any trouble he might be causing Lady Russell. "She will not be there to hear it and I may accuse her of lustiness all I like."
"But your brother will return at some point, to comments you might have inspired, and I do not think for a second that Lady Russell is a lusty widow," said Sophia, remembering Anne's story about Frederick's tattoo. Lady Russell had not dealt with that lustily. "And Henry does not appear to be a very lusty man. Which is probably understating the case. His name is Croft."
"Clever girl, you have just hit upon the reason why calling them lusty is amusing."
"I do not care what you do to your brothers, but Lady Russell is a respectable neighbour. You cannot possibly cast aspersions on her character."
The admiral pouted. "As if one of my brothers is such a bad thing for anyone. Am I a bad thing? Why are you bringing this up?"
"I am bringing this up in case your brother misses dinner because he is too engrossed in gawking at staircases and chimney pieces and questions are asked about his absence. Can you imagine your father? I am fairly certain he does not know where your brother went. Imagine the answer! Oh, Henry? He is still examining Lady Russell's chimneys and must have forgotten the time."
"At least it is not happening under his roof," he squeaked.
"James," she spoke admonishingly.
He sighed as if she was depriving him of some great amusement. "All right. If there are any questions I shall say he has excused himself because he is unwell. And that you, excellent nurse that you are, will have a look at him later. That will prevent anyone else from going to his room. They will gladly leave all the sicknesses to you."
"Thank you, darling."
"Sophia thinks I should go to Bath to speak to my father," Anne said to Frederick. "I agree that I may have to because he might expect it of me."
"I am always at your disposal. I think I shall like it, taking my wife to Bath. We could go to a concert," he mused, imagining himself going there with a beautiful wife on his arm. "And I could buy you many things. When would you like to go? Tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow!" she echoed. "Does it not need more planning?"
"Do I ever do any planning?" he asked with a wink. "Can Sophia spare you?" He thought Anne might feel the need to stay here to help.
She looked uncertain. "It was you who thought she could not spare me earlier. What do you say now?"
"She seems to be fine with her babies -- and you cannot help her with those men. She should stop frightening them and then all will be fine. I told them she would love them instantly if they expressed some interest in the girls." Frederick spoke teasingly, but he had indeed told them that. They had given him funny looks.
"Being loved might frighten them," Anne commented. She did not think that would really have worked as a reassurance.
"Or it may suit them very well. I like it." He turned serious as he thought further. "But if you want to go to Bath to speak to your father because he expects you to come, he may not appreciate being told you had to postpone that to entertain people who are not even your guests. He will likely not see it the same way."
"That is true." Anne threw her arms around him and wished he would end her indecisiveness. "Why could it not be easier?" Why could her father not have been easier and more interested, so that no trip would have been necessary at all?
"Tomorrow," he decided. "A few days. Can Sophia not read a book if she is left alone? Or rest? She seems to need rest more often. Do not feel guilty if we leave for only a few days. Our first trip together. It should be enjoyable."
"Do you have special packing requirements like Edward?" Anne wondered. She imagined them trying to pack a trunk together. They would not argue, she thought.
"I shall not pack as tightly as Edward. I need to reserve room for my purchases. And you will help me pack, will you not? You will not be sick."
"You will be the first to hear of that, I promise. Your sister has been very curious, but alas -- I do not yet have anything to say to her. Her indiscretion was most helpful, however."
"Helpful! Was that your opinion or hers?" He could imagine Sophia thinking herself a little more helpful than Anne did.
"Hers, but secretly mine as well." She had listened and thought, but she had not said anything.
Frederick laughed at her. "I think she may know that even if you try not to reveal it. What did she say? Was it very bad?"
"No, not at all. It was helpful," she smiled. "Truly, but I have my image to uphold."
"Henry excused himself," Admiral Croft announced before the meal began. "He was not feeling well. Sophia will have a look at him after dinner."
The most concerned looks seemed to be for the fact that Henry would be examined by Sophia. She almost laughed, but the matter was too serious. "I always look after James when he is ill," she said instead. "And he always recovers." She would say that was because he was never very ill, in her opinion, and not because she was a wonderful nurse, but perhaps it would help to make everybody less afraid.
"I love being ill," he agreed. She was always so sweet to him then, so completely devoted to his wellbeing and to nothing else.
"Too much so." She had been keeping an eye on Rupert, but he did not seem to think it at all strange that Henry was feeling unwell, despite having been together with him for half of the day.
After dinner she excused herself and since she was not being followed, she went straight to her little girls.
"Could Anne and I go to Bath tomorrow?" Frederick asked his brother-in-law.
He pretended to have problems with his ears. "Could Anne and you take a bath tomorrow? Certainly."
"To Bath," Frederick corrected in exasperation.
"Why are you asking my permission? Am I your father?" There must be a reason for the question, but he did not yet see it. Frederick was not in the habit of asking permission for anything.
"No, but if Sophia still needs Anne to help we might wait. I could tell her Sophia will be fine, but I think you or Sophia have to say so for Anne to be easy about it. If I did not think she might worry about it, I should not be asking. I do not want to go there only to have her fret about what might happen here." They should be dwelling on other matters while they were in Bath.
"Ah, Frederick discovers the joys of having a wife." Wives, he knew, always wanted to be in more places at once to make sure everything went smoothly everywhere, which could not happen without their interference or presence.
Frederick said nothing. He was not sure what was meant by that remark.
"But go. Then we shall finally not be disturbed in our room anymore. Yes, go."
Frederick looked indignant. "Er…we did not disturb anything. You were not doing anything."
"No, because who would think of beginning anything knowing you will be around to interrupt it? Go to Bath and find out how I always suffer," the admiral said good-humouredly.
"I do not understand you. Nobody will disturb us in Bath."
"No, but while you are in Bath listening to your wife's concerns about Kellynch, I shall be here listening to my wife's concerns about Bath."
"Are we giving Sophia any cause for concern?"
He laughed. "Always, poor uninformed Frederick and Anne -- and you will remain uninformed because you will always remain her younger brother."
"So she might as well stop worrying. It is useless to wait for me to become the elder brother. Distract her."
"I can distract her if you go to Bath. I just told you so," the admiral said with a patient look. "It is a very good scheme. Still, even when distracted Sophy can think of different things at once."
"Perhaps you do not distract her well enough," Frederick said provocatively.
His brother-in-law remained unruffled. "Perhaps you are always in the way. That is precisely why you should go to Bath. Give me the opportunity to distract her without having to fear an interruption."
Frederick sought out Anne after this conversation. "He would like for us to go to Bath, because he can then have Sophia to himself. I suppose this means he does not think Sophia needs any assistance at this end. So, shall we go tomorrow?"
"Are you certain?" Anne was still doubtful.
He wished to settle the matter definitively. He had enough of it. "Well, I have had -- I am quite certain we shall be in the carriage by twelve o'clock tomorrow. That should give you enough time."
"Mr Croft," Lady Russell said at eleven o'clock after she had waited in vain for Mr Croft to grow tired and leave. She was too civil to order him out and she had to resort to hinting. He had been working all this while without any breaks and he had not gone to Kellynch Hall to eat dinner either. When asked, he had said he was not hungry, although he had absentmindedly eaten some of what had been placed beside him.
Lady Russell had been watching him since at least nine o'clock, but after two hours of hoping he would leave her, fatigue had finally induced her to speak. He did not even look up at her words, so she felt at liberty to look exasperated. "Mr Croft, I really do not have any objections to your work, but I beg you to excuse me now. I must retire. The footman will see you out if you give him a sign."
"Yes, of course. I am very nearly done," he replied without raising his eyes from his work for more than a second. "Good night."
She spoke to the footman and then retired. She shook her head at gentlemen who needed hints.
Posted on Tuesday, 7 November 2006
"Good morning, madam," said Lady Russell's maid the next morning. "Christopher asked me to tell you that he waited until midnight for Mr Croft to ask to be let out, but that he never came. Then Christopher looked all through the house and could not find him, so he assumed that Mr Croft left all by himself and due to having to rise early, he went to bed. He says he looked very thoroughly downstairs, madam."
Lady Russell still looked and felt a little sleepy. She needed some time to digest this speech, but she supposed Christopher wished to be reassured he had acted correctly. "Well, if the man was very nearly done at eleven, I do not suppose he was still around at midnight. Christopher should not worry."
As Jenny was washing her hair, however, she began to have doubts. Mr Croft was not the most alert of men. It was very possible that he had worked on and forgotten the time, although that did not explain why Christopher had not been able to find him.
Unless, Lady Russell pondered this, Mr Croft had somehow gone upstairs. It was not clear why he would do so if he had said he was very nearly done, but the man was unfathomable at best. She sighed. Once her hair was washed, she had better inspect some of the rooms on this floor. Christopher had had no reason to check them and she did not think he had. It would perhaps not be so very surprising to find Mr Croft still sketching away without having slept.
She never showed herself to the world after her hair had been washed, not until it was almost dry and neatly made up. This habit was forgotten now and she left her breakfast and newspapers in her room. Starting at the far end of the house, she checked all the rooms and closets, but she had not found anyone when she came to the apartments of the master of the house. They were admittedly the finest and she paused, shaking her head in incredulous anticipation. Why indeed would Mr Croft hide in an ugly closet when there was so much to draw here? She had not declared these rooms forbidden territory. Why should he have stayed out?
The moment she opened the door it became clear that he had been here indeed. There were drawings and pencils on the table. Lady Russell muttered something under her breath. He had said he was nearly done and then he had gone here!
It was still possible that he had gone here simply to leave his materials for today's work. She did not see the man himself. Inspecting the top drawing, she saw he had begun, however, but he had not finished. "Not finished!" she said, clicking her tongue. "Dereliction of duty? Distraction? How utterly out of character."
Her fingers tapped the table as she tried to work out at what time he must have left. The candles were all burnt up, she noticed. He had not even extinguished them when he left. She glanced towards the door to the master bedchamber and she felt a sudden concern. "It cannot be!" she exclaimed involuntarily.
But it was so. She fainted at the sight.
Mr Henry Croft, who had fallen asleep over his work and then woken at two o'clock to find the house in complete darkness, not to mention completely locked up, had only seen one option. He had returned to the apartments in which he had been working and climbed into bed. This chilly room was vastly better than escaping this house and finding Kellynch Hall equally locked up. It was rather cold outside.
Now he awoke at the sound of a large thud and he discovered the parts of him that were no longer covered by the sheets were chilled. He did not instantly know what the thud had been, not until he sat up to see where he was. Slowly he remembered he was at Kellynch Lodge, in a pretty set of rooms upstairs, with a bed he had climbed into.
The one thing that had not been there when he went to bed was that dead woman on the floor. Although, if she had been responsible for the thud, she might not yet be dead. He watched her fearfully for a few seconds, but she did not move. Reluctantly he realised he would have to investigate.
As he glanced down at her, he supposed the dead woman might be Lady Russell. He would only recognise her in an upright position with her hair dry and tied up, not like this. To this end he dragged her towards the bed and propped her up against it, taking a handful of wet hair and holding it up. This indeed made her look a little more like Lady Russell, but why she was unconscious -- not dead, he realised -- he did not know. He dropped the hair again and waited.
Just when he was wondering whether he should call a servant, she stirred, moaned and opened her eyes. She took one look at him, closed her eyes again and leant her head back against the bed. "Oh no!"
"You do not appear to be well," Mr Croft said cautiously, although he was relieved she could speak. "Are you Lady Russell?"
She moaned again. "Am I?"
"I have not looked at her well enough to know," he confessed. "Should I call for anybody who might know who you are?"
"No! Please, no!" Lady Russell kept her eyes closed. She must not be found here with him. Everybody knew who she was, except this man here.
"What were you doing on the floor?"
Her senses were slowly returning to her and she had only questions about this unbelievable situation. "What were you doing in the bed?"
"I did not know where else to go at two in the morning. I woke to find myself locked into this house." It was not his fault and he had followed the most logical course of action.
"So you appropriated the master bedchamber."
He looked confused. "The master of the house is dead. Lady Russell told me so herself. This bed at least would not be used. And it was here."
Lady Russell tried to keep her voice steady and her eyes closed. Lady Russell had told him indeed. It was odd how he remembered that, but not what she looked like. "Could you not also have appropriated one of his nightgowns?"
"Nightgowns are for women."
"Nightgowns are indeed to shield the eyes of women."
"I never see any women in bedchambers," Mr Croft said a little testily at her lack of gratitude, because he had come to her aid as soon as he could. She should now not wish he had dressed for a grand occasion first. "And I never go to sleep thinking they might be there in the morning."
"This is my house!" she protested. Her eyes flew open again in indignation. In her house she might enter any room she wished.
"Why should you be looking into a dead man's rooms?"
"Please, Mr Croft," she said, trying to sound calm. He was calm enough, although his logic was extremely faulty. "Make yourself presentable and join me in the next room where we might discuss this scandalous attack on my respectability."
"Well," Lady Russell began when he appeared looking presentable. She had done a little thinking in the meantime. "You will understand that it cannot be known that you spent the night here. I think it wisest for you to stay in this room until sufficient time has passed for this household not to have noticed your return. The later the hour, the more opportunities there will have been for you to have arrived unnoticed."
He nodded. "I should not wish to appear so…unlike myself."
"I considered it your own responsibility to inform your family that you were not coming to dinner, but perhaps I overestimated you there," she said reflectively. "I am now not convinced you sent a note to Kellynch Hall to make your excuses. I can now not imagine what they must be thinking of your absence."
Mr Croft stared. What with an unconscious woman on the floor he had not yet given any thought to his relatives. "Neither can I. I mean, I can." He looked afraid. They would think he had slept here -- and amazingly, he had.
"Were I not involved in this scandalous matter, I should not care, but unfortunately you chose to drag me into it."
"I did not choose that! You might never have known if you had not gone into a dead man's rooms." Thinking about it, he wondered why the bed was made if the man was dead, but as that would undermine his own position, he did not mention it.
"I think you should remain in here until it is all sorted," she decided. "By me or other people of sense."
"Can you not send a note to my brother James Frederick?" he asked. James would get him out of here and James would tell this woman he was entirely innocent. She had said this was her house. It might therefore be Lady Russell after all. How could it not be, really? No guest would come here to have her hair washed.
"Is that the admiral?"
"Yes. He should help me. I have always remained silent about his nightly excursions." That discretion deserved a favour in return. And James could not be afraid of Lady Russell; he had a wife. He knew what to say to women.
Lady Russell gave him a distasteful look. "Do not tell me about the admiral's nightly excursions."
"To his wife! They were married, but my father always forbade them to share a room at his house. He put James with me, but James --"
She held up her hand hurriedly. No matter to whom he had gone, it could only have been for one purpose. "I still do not wish to hear it. Get back to drawing."
Those other people of sense were not long in arriving. Sophia had taken Anne with her -- and a footman to carry the babies in a basket, in case their business took long -- although Anne had no idea what was happening. They had walked to Kellynch Lodge and Lady Russell, having seen them from her window, had them brought upstairs to her rooms immediately, despite not yet having her hair up. It had slipped her mind, given the distraction of a man in the house.
"My husband's brother Henry," Sophia began. She supposed Lady Russell was aware of something, considering the way she looked, so ill-prepared to receive visitors and receiving them anyhow. "He never returned from here yesterday."
Lady Russell sighed. She decided she must be happy they knew. It spared her some of the mortification of explaining it, although plenty remained. "I discovered that this morning."
"This morning?"
She coloured. "Are you suggesting I voluntarily kept him here?"
"No, no," Sophia soothed. "I suspect he was a stowaway, for whatever reason."
This reassured Lady Russell somewhat. "After waiting in vain from him to finish I went to bed at eleven. I assumed he would ask to be shown out shortly afterwards, as I told him to do, but he simply moved on to a new project."
Sophia now sighed too. "They are in some ways very stupid men. How many people know of the stowaway at this end?"
"Nobody except me. Fortunately the servants think he must have left on his own. I have ordered him to stay where I found him. Nobody will look for him there." As she spoke, she realised that was exactly what he had told her as well. It was a dead man's room. Why should anyone look there? Why had she?
"Good. Would you please let me speak to him?"
"He is three doors to the left, if you go through that door." Lady Russell indicated a door on the left side of the room. She sighed again when Sophia had left. "Anne! I am so very glad Mrs Croft and you appeared, because that Mr Croft is an oaf."
"I honestly have no idea what is going on," said Anne, who had been under the assumption she was to go to Bath with Frederick as early as possible, but then Sophia had whisked her off to Kellynch Lodge on an emergency call without telling her why. The babies had been taken along, so it might take a while. She hoped Frederick would begin packing. "I thought he was ill. He did not come to dinner because he was ill."
"He was here. I should have sent him away, but I trusted he had some common sense. Apparently he has none. This morning he asked me if I was Lady Russell, because he had not looked at her well enough to recognise me." She looked incredulously at her younger friend. How could she not be Lady Russell in this house?
Considering that Anne could not remember ever seeing Lady Russell with her hair undone herself, she was not surprised. The shock of discovering the stowaway must have made her godmother forget all about her hair. She picked up a brush to help. Her left arm felt odd, free from its protection after all these weeks. She had wanted to go to Bath looking healthy and removed everything.
As Anne brushed, she reflected on Sophia's reasons for going here. Evidently Henry Croft was not ill at all, but he had remained here. Why? He could not know or like Lady Russell well enough to have stayed for her sake, but that he had forgotten to leave was a bit strange. How could one, especially one who was uncomfortable around women, forget? "What was Mr Croft doing here?"
"Making sketches of the interior. I never knew he would not leave, so I went to bed." She shook her head at her own stupidity. She would never make such an assumption again. Men could not be trusted to follow orders. They could not be trusted at all.
Anne's lip trembled. "Poor Mr Croft must have been mortified."
"He mortified!" exclaimed Lady Russell, who did not like that all the sympathy should be given to the other party. "I fainted!"
"But they are afraid of women." Anne could not imagine him in another state than deep mortification upon discovering he was still here. And Lady Russell had fainted again? "Oh dear," she muttered compassionately as she twisted Lady Russell's hair up. Thankfully her left hand managed just fine.
Not many people would be able to withstand such compassion. Lady Russell was not one of them. She gave in to her desire to complain. "He was almost entirely undressed when I happened upon him and he was entirely unfazed by that."
"Well, he is the admiral's brother. They have no intentions and thus no awareness." She wondered what almost entirely undressed looked like. He might have been missing his cravat. It was not wise to say so, for obviously whatever had been missing had mattered a great deal to Lady Russell. Yet she could not believe Mr Croft had intentionally appeared before a woman in such a state.
"That did not make the sight any less disturbing and I now have a headache. I think I fell on my head." She felt her head for bruises. There was a very thick carpet in that room, though, and there were probably no bruises.
Anne did not think she looked very unwell, certainly not as if she had landed on her head. "Did Mr Croft not catch you?"
"He was in the bed, but I would rather not think about that." She shuddered. "Is there any hope of Mrs Croft solving this discreetly?"
"She is a very good sister." But as she spoke, Anne realised that Lady Russell would not appreciate the unintentional implication that having the admiral's brother in the house would make her Sophia's sister. "To me."
Posted on Friday, 10 November 2006
"Henry," Sophia addressed him carefully. She had found him drawing and she had sat down beside him. "Please explain." He was not stupid, so she did not need to clarify what he needed to explain. He would know. She assumed Lady Russell had already spoken to him.
"I fell asleep," he said with a wary look, as if he did not know what to expect from her. "You must think I did so on purpose."
"No, you did so by accident. Lady Russell knows that too." Sophia assumed that, at any rate. "Other people may not, so we should take care to keep it from them."
"How do you know?"
"I saw you did not come back with Rupert. Not to dinner, not to breakfast! I could imagine James, if he enjoyed drawing, not returning. You have more in common than your last name, you see. And you always helped us when we stayed with you." She felt she ought to help him a little if he deserved it.
"Yes, Father never knew about it until you blurted out what you had been doing under his roof. I received a scolding for it."
"Now, Henry," Sophia spoke sternly. His self-pity was uncalled for. "You are forty-three and James and I are married. We have every right to be fond of each other. Your father's scolding anybody in this case is insane." Nobody in his right mind would have considered it necessary to prevent it and nobody would have considered it Henry's task to do so.
He looked displeased. "Tell him so. He was very unreasonable."
"I am frightfully sorry," she said with genuine regret. "If he scolded you for what James and I might have done on occasion, but I was so vexed with him."
"Yes, I know you were vexed. He has very strict notions. I did not believe or agree with him, although it was unpleasant."
"Good." She wondered if there was any point in speaking to him about those notions. It was not likely and other matters were more important first. "As far as they all know, you were in your room last night feeling unwell. I advise you to stick to that story when you return."
"Thank you." He looked grateful. "You are not so bad."
"I never was, was I? Not until I started having babies. Why is being female or having babies prohibited or frowned upon in your family?" She did not suppose he would know.
Henry gave her a serious look. "Because it usually ends in death, I think."
Sophia did not think that was entirely true. "Not after you. There were four more sons after you."
"If he had curbed his selfish urges after that, he might still have had a wife."
Sophia's eyes opened wider. It made just enough sense in combination with old Mr Croft's comments. "Is that what you think? Or your father?" It sounded like something the old man would have said himself. Henry could not know much about giving in to urges.
"I think that is what he thinks," he said cautiously. "But he never says quite enough about it. I do not know what went on after Rupert. I was at school and I can only guess."
"And James?" He had never told her anything about this. According to James they did not like women because they did not like women. It could not be what he really thought, but he never seemed to want to talk about it and she had never really asked.
"He was too young, then he went to school, then he went to sea, then he got married. He did not catch as much of it as I did."
Sophia supposed that was true, although she thought highly of him and thought he should have caught just a little. "Hmm. But living by your father's rules and misconceptions is a horribly inadequate preparation for dealing with situations involving ladies."
He gave her a wry laugh. "You assume a man wishes to end up in those."
"No, I do not assume he wishes to, although most do, but considering that half of the population is in fact female, I cannot see it as anything but inevitable. The more you try to avoid it, the worse the situation will be."
"Sophia, I do not consider this a situation involving a lady," he said with a piqued look. "I was drawing and I fell asleep."
"It is a lady's house. A widow's house. Which you forgot to leave. Most people have other plans with widows. Or the widows have other plans with them. I do not know. It is very dubious in any case to be discovered staying the night in a widow's house." She thought he would not like to hear what his own brother had said about it.
"I can only apologise and say it was never my intention to end up in a dubious situation. I only stayed because I was locked in and I thought I might find myself locked out of your house if I managed to escape. It is very cold outside, so I chose to stay here. Does that not make complete sense?" He did not see how she could disagree.
It made sense, but only because all sense had been abandoned earlier. "Henry, you should have left when Lady Russell went to bed."
"Why? She never said so."
Sophia almost groaned. "That is something that is commonly understood. And it was impolite for her to throw you out. You should in fact have left this house well before she went to bed and do not blame other people or the weather for that oversight."
"I was distracted," Henry defended himself.
"I wish I was not so acquainted with distracted men. Why can the men in your family not think when they are distracted? It can be learnt. James learnt. And I have learnt not to believe him anymore when he looks at me like that." They had the same eyes, but James' innocence was not genuine anymore for the most part. Henry's innocence could probably still be trusted.
He was not aware of anything. "How?"
She gave him no answer and returned to Anne and Lady Russell.
"What the devil are Sophia and Anne doing?" Frederick grumbled. "Yesterday she made me think she would enjoy packing with me, but now she left it all to me!"
"Interesting. Did you pack Anne's clothes as well?" Admiral Croft wondered. He thought that quite efficient. Instead of complaining and waiting for Anne to pack, Frederick had done it himself.
"I did."
"I hope you still pack as neatly as fifteen years ago."
"Probably not. There is no longer any punishment for not packing well." He was fortunate that nowadays the man used a newspaper to hit him and not his hand, although it had been effective in the past. He had learnt to pack.
"I never hit harder than you deserved," the admiral protested. "And how often did I do it? Once? Wives are more demanding than captains. Did you know?"
That was a matter of opinion. Anne would never say anything. "Really, what did Sophia do to you?"
"Sophia sees no faults in me," he said confidently. "But she would not stop at boxing my ears if I ever ruined her clothes with a wine bottle, therefore I am lucky not to be that stupid and no longer so poor that she would mind."
"It pains me to say she probably truly sees no faults in you."
"Be happy for her," was the admiral's stoic reaction. "And what of yours?"
Frederick paced the room. "Where is she? It is eleven and we are leaving at twelve."
The admiral knew better, but he did not say so. They would not leave at twelve, but when Anne returned. And why was Frederick impatient already if there was still an hour to go? "How would you know what to pack for Anne?"
"I lack a brain," Frederick said sarcastically. "As you well know."
"That is why I asked."
That remark had best be ignored. He had brought it upon himself. "Where did they go?"
"To Lady Russell."
"Why? Do not tell me we have to take Lady Russell to Bath with us." He was looking forward to being alone with Anne for a few hours. He did not want to have to talk to anyone else.
"Perhaps to ask if she has any messages to convey to Bath? I have no idea," the admiral lied.
"It was not intentional," Sophia reported. "He was drawing and fell asleep and then he chose not to risk finding himself locked out of the Hall. I told him he should have left long before, but he seems to think you should have told him to go."
Lady Russell rubbed her temples and did not answer. He had in fact said he would not mind if she told him, but she had not taken that to mean he would forget if she did not.
Sophia continued. "What should I tell him now? Would you want him to leave? If we leave him here, he will spend another night, I am sure."
"As it does not bother me during the day, I am not sure what to do." She supposed she was too kind to deprive him of his amusements. He appeared to enjoy drawing very much.
"But he should be evicted at nightfall?"
Lady Russell had little faith in being heard by the man. She imagined herself telling him to leave. He would not go and she would feel powerless. "Could you not send your husband over to remove him bodily?"
Sophia considered that. James would enjoy himself too much if she sent him on such an errand. She could already imagine some of his remarks. "I could, but it might not be a good idea if you cannot abide his comments. He is bound to make some, even if I tell him not to. We can depend on his morals, but not on his tongue. I am at least objective enough to realise his wit is not for everyone."
"A man with morals. Dare we hope they exist?" Lady Russell said hopefully.
"I shall assume you are distraught," Sophia replied after a second. "Of course they exist. Precisely what did Henry do to you?"
"Nothing." That was the truth. He had done nothing.
"That makes two men with morals already then." Anne let out a protesting sound and Sophia chuckled. "Three. I must not forget my brother."
"I should go," Anne said with an eye on the clock. "Frederick and I are going to Bath. He will be waiting for me. Will you be all right?" she asked Lady Russell. She thought she could safely leave her in Sophia's care, but Lady Russell herself might think differently.
"I doubt it."
Anne pulled her arm through hers and took her downstairs. "But what is so bad? You only had a forgetful stowaway somewhere in your house, not even in your private apartments and he did nothing to you. You merely found him."
Her private apartments! So it could have been worse? "Heaven forbid!"
Anne considered telling her about Lyme and the possibility of finding perfectly harmless men in one's room, but that would not improve Lady Russell's opinion of men, which seemed to be rather low at this point. Anne could in all honesty not blame her.
Sophia slowly trotted after them, but she became anxious when a baby's crying could be heard. "Margaret is displeased," she said, wishing Anne and Lady Russell would move aside to let her through, but they continued to descend the stairs as if they did not hear anything.
"Who is Margaret and why is she displeased?" Lady Russell wondered, thinking nobody else could be as put out as she was.
"Margaret is my daughter." Sophia had no idea why she was crying and she wanted to have a look at the poor distressed little thing, but they were still not letting her pass.
"How did she come here?"
"We brought her along in case it would take very long here and she would become hungry again. It is not yet time for that, so she is probably bored. Margaret is always bored." It could be Catherine crying, she supposed, but Catherine was never bored.
"I must run off, Sophia," Anne said hastily before Sophia would become too engrossed in relieving little Margaret's boredom. "Or Frederick will be displeased."
Anne ran back towards Kellynch Hall where she arrived rather breathlessly to find a carriage waiting and Frederick pacing impatiently. She studied him anxiously for signs of displeasure. "Are you about to leave? But I have not packed."
"I packed." He wondered why she could think he would leave without her, if their only purpose in going was her business.
"For me too? Everything? Toiletries? Did you even pack a nightgown for me?"
"Do you need one?" he inquired. Of course he had packed a nightgown. He had observed Anne as she dressed and undressed and he thought he had a good idea of what she needed. It was really not complicated. Anne was not especially vain and what she required was mostly the feminine equivalent of what he did.
"Frederick!" She hoped the coachman had not heard that, nor seen the smile that had accompanied the question.
He smiled again. "We can buy everything I forgot, but I assure you I forgot nothing. Now run inside to say goodbye to everyone and we can be off."
Anne did so, although she did not plan to say goodbye to everyone. She found Admiral Croft playing billiards with a younger brother. "I came to say goodbye. We are off to Bath."
He joined her at the door and spoke in a low voice. "Is Sophia still sorting the fix with Henry? I hope it was not what a naughty mind would think."
"Naughty mind! Oh, do not say that!" Anne said in dismay. "Sophia has just defended your morals to Lady Russell."
"What do morals have to do with a naughty mind? And why mine?" he wondered in genuine surprise. "I did not hide myself under her bed. That was my brother."
"Not under her bed," Anne assured him. "He was merely in the house."
"Yes," he agreed with a laugh. He could not imagine anything else. "Merely. I know you do not even mind gentlemen who are merely in your room. But where on earth do my morals come into play? I never did anything so wicked."
"Lady Russell wondered if you could come to remove your brother this evening, but Sophia thought you might make comments if you did so." Anne thought Sophia had foreseen that well. He would.
"Naturally. But what do you mean, this evening? She is not so upset as to want him out immediately? Does Lady Russell not know that anything that might happen during the night might also happen during the day? The risk is even greater. Henry should know that. I told him so every time we stayed there, because he always looked disapproving."
"I…" Anne covered her face with her hands. "I think it is time for me to go to Bath. I hope you will not tease everybody too much in our absence, especially people who are not used to it." And she specifically meant Lady Russell. Henry Croft, she supposed, had known his brother for four decades. She would not pity him much.
"It is a pity Frederick is not staying then, because I shall only have Sophy. But while you are in Bath you must not worry about anyone."
"How could I, after such a parting note? You will tease them mercilessly about what they might have been able to do, whether it is in their characters or not to do so." She shook her head and foresaw a great deal of trouble.
"I tease where there is love and no action, not where there is action and no love," he said solemnly. "And perhaps somewhat in the beginning to determine with which of the two we are dealing."
Posted on Monday, 13 November 2006
"What were you doing at Lady Russell's house?" Frederick wondered as soon as the carriage had set off. "You look rather preoccupied."
He should perhaps try to sound more cheerful, because the first days of his marriage had not given him any reasons to be displeased. That Anne had been abducted by Sophia was wholly in character for both of them. The unalterable facts of their helpfulness and friendship pleased him more than they annoyed him. He could, however, not resist the temptation to be a little childish and imply that Anne had been solely interested in him before now. That was not completely true, although her attention, whenever he wished it, had been most gratifying.
Anne rested her head against his shoulder. She reflected on the previous time they had sat next to each other in a carriage. She had not been able to do this then, but she had had to sit up straight so as not to give away her feelings. This was infinitely better.
She remembered envying the familiarity of a long-married couple and although Frederick and she had not been married long, she no longer envied anybody else. Now she could sit here in perfect ease herself and marvel at the fact that it was possible.
"It was Mr Croft who was preoccupied…" she said.
Frederick absentmindedly played with her hands. "Was he causing problems at her house?"
Anne was loath to accuse him of anything. "I am not sure everybody would consider it a grave problem. He fell asleep there and she discovered him in the morning."
"Odd," Frederick commented in a teasing voice. "What is the matter with all these ladies falling asleep without removing the gentlemen from their rooms?"
"Oh, Frederick! But you cannot compare yourself to him. I never thought you would do anything and perhaps if you had I might even have allowed it, but Lady Russell does not love him and she does not even know his character. Besides, he slept in another room and she was not aware of it."
"It makes no sense to me -- how she could go to sleep before he left and how he could not leave before she went to bed, unless she somehow condoned his staying. You know that, Anne. Not that I thought of it then, but had I been another man, you would never have gone to sleep." He was proud of not having been another sort of man. He would not have stayed with another sort of woman either.
"That is true, but still she did not condone it. She fainted when she found him, because she thought he would have asked the servants to let him out."
"Lady Russell has a weak constitution. She is always fainting. Was this at finding a man or finding he had not obeyed her orders? What could you and Sophia do for her? Give her smelling salts? How did you even know she was in trouble?"
"Remember that Mr Croft was said to be ill last night. Sophia went there to tell him that, so he would not get into any trouble with his father, who would really not have appreciated his staying out for the night."
"With an older woman." At least, he had always assumed she was older. She was Anne's godmother and Henry Croft was his sister's husband's brother, and at a glance they belonged to different generations. Now that he compared their estimated ages, perhaps they were not far apart. Lady Russell might be fifty. He had no idea.
"With any sort of woman. But Sophia will solve it." She was confident she would not have to feel any concern while she was gone.
"Which means they will be married by the time we come back," he said dryly. Sophia seemed to be rather efficient lately.
Anne giggled. "No! I cannot imagine that. Do you give Sophia so much credit? How about your own situation? Did you marry me against your will?"
"Do you not recall that you told me I must marry you?" He had not even been given the chance to propose.
"Yes, I did. But it has been good for you, so I will not accept complaints."
"Very good," he agreed. He gave her a kiss and leant back in contentment. "Now tell me what you would like to do in Bath after the necessary business."
"Oh," she said after a second. "I first thought you were speaking of a bath and I thought that after the necessary business the water would be quite cold."
"It still takes me by surprise when you need so little provocation to be…like that. But I do like it."
Anne had written to her father, but she had still received no reply. It had puzzled her, but she had consoled herself with the thought that he might still be composing an answer. It had not been terribly long since she had sent it. But she had sent it and Frederick and she had both done their duties. Although Frederick had spoken of an elopement, she hoped her letter had set that right. She had explained quite clearly how and where they were wed and nobody would think it sounded at all like an elopement.
Now they were in Bath she would of course have to call on her father, but she dreaded the confrontation. Anger was to be preferred over indifference. She would feel very uncomfortable having to respond to blank looks and silence. It would be easier to defend herself and her choice.
Frederick had chosen not to accompany her. He had doubted, but eventually decided that Anne all by herself might stand a greater chance of being admitted into the house. He wanted to spare her the humiliation of seeing them turned away because of her husband. Being admitted and being treated coldly because of him could not be pleasant either. Sir Walter Elliot was an unpredictable quantity.
Even Anne could not think what her father would consider worse: having Frederick there to pay his respects or having Anne come alone. Considering that he had not received Frederick when he was in Bath, she had tentatively leant towards Frederick's opinion. Her father would not be uncivil to her alone, he had said. She hoped that was true.
The servant recognised her, Anne was relieved to note, though why she feared he might have forgotten her so quickly was not exactly clear to her. He had known her many years and he still called her Miss Elliot. "Mrs Wentworth now," she corrected gently. "Did Captain Wentworth not call here a while back?"
He was embarrassed to admit it. "Yes, Mrs Wentworth."
She said no more until she was shown in to the room where her father was holding court. She detected no guilt in his greeting. Perhaps he did not even think he should have replied to her letter, but he had been waiting until she would come to see him. He merely looked surprised to see her in Bath.
"I came to tell you that I am married," she said, although he was already supposed to know. It relieved her that Elizabeth was not there. Her sister could have nothing to say, no good wishes or congratulations to offer.
Sir Walter had not expected Anne to come here, although he was not sure what he had been expecting instead. "Yes, the news reached me," he replied vaguely. "I also heard your new husband made a great fortune by the war."
"Yes," Anne said cautiously. She wondered if a fortune was considered a good thing. She could not really detect anything in her father's tone except some mild amazement that she of all people should have made a prosperous match.
"A captain in the Navy, I was told. Although he was nobody before, today one would not be ashamed to be seen with him, I was also told." Inquiries had been made, hesitantly at first, but when reports were favourable, he had on occasion let it slip that a daughter was lately married to the man. It was impossible to have the population of Bath hear this from another source, of course -- Sir Walter Elliot, unaware of his daughter's marriage! No, such a thing could not be allowed.
Knowing her father a little, it seemed to be going well. He had apparently sought to satisfy his own curiosity and worries about the match, but he had given no thought or consideration to hers. His image and happiness mattered, but hers did not. She was strengthened by the thought that his opinion did not truly matter to her either. "I am not ashamed to be seen with him, certainly," she spoke calmly. "But you may have deduced that from my marrying him."
Sir Walter gave such an incomprehensible statement a little frown. "And you have come to Bath? Where are you staying?"
She gave him their address. "For a few days."
It was good enough for a few days, although he would have preferred a longer stay so she could have taken a house, and he nodded. "Will you have engagements?"
Anne was slightly mystified by that question. "Er…I do not know yet. We have only barely arrived and we are not staying long. I came over directly, because I thought I should tell -- but Captain Wentworth has been here and left his card not long ago to inform you of our intentions."
"Yes, yes. I can, however, not receive everybody," Sir Walter said without flinching. "And Captain Wentworth, who was he to me? I do not mingle with the Navy."
"Did he not leave a message?"
"About eloping with my daughter? He did indeed, but I cannot take such nonsense seriously," her father said decidedly. "Young men coming here to announce they are going to elope with one of my daughters! I can understand the wish, but not the nerve. And it is good that I never took it seriously, because it turned out he never eloped with you at all."
Anne was glad her letter had indeed been read, although a different sort of reaction to it would have been more to her liking. "No, we never eloped. It was all very respectable, but very small. Only Mrs Croft and Mrs Wentworth attended."
"Mrs Croft. Well, I was glad she was unwell last time she was in Bath. The admiral is not bad looking for an admiral, but all this going to sea is very bad for a woman's complexion. Being on a boat did nothing for her figure either."
"Indeed," Anne murmured. She contemplated saying that being off that ship had altered Sophia's figure again.
"You are not thinking of going to sea, are you?" Sir Walter looked a little concerned. "You are looking quite pretty at present."
"Thank you, Father," Anne said graciously. "But I do not think there is any danger of my going to sea. I am staying at Kellynch."
"At Kellynch? I have not heard from Admiral Croft about the lease." Sir Walter wrinkled his brow, evidently concerned about losing his rent and considering whether could in all decency ask a daughter to pay for living there, when he had not yet given her the money that was due to her.
"The admiral is not leaving."
"Will you be living with him and Mrs Croft?" He looked surprised.
"Yes. My husband is Mrs Croft's brother," Anne explained in case he did not yet know.
"You can keep an eye on things then."
That was an odd remark. He had let his house to them, but he did not completely trust them? Anne felt she ought to defend them. "One could not find any faults with how things are run, whether I am there or not. You could not wish for better tenants, Father."
"Have they now also come to Bath?"
"No." Anne doubted whether she should tell them about the twins. Not while it could be avoided, she decided. "They have guests. The admiral's relatives."
She did not know what else to discuss with him and suggested he might want to dress for dinner. She should not keep him and he agreed.
As Anne discovered when she returned to their inn, Frederick knew almost as many people in Bath as Admiral Croft did. Some of them were the same and some were now happily settled in their apartments with something to drink. She was not used to such an influx of visitors immediately after arriving in a new place -- her father would never have allowed them in even if they had called -- and she eyed them with considerable surprise. Frederick evidently had different notions about receiving visitors.
"I ran into some people," he said with an apologetic smile as he approached her. "I hope you do not mind."
"No, of course not." She tried to remember all the names as their visitors were introduced to her. The only lady in the party was one she had met before when she had come to dine with the Crofts and Anne was discreetly asked about Sophia's condition. This rendered her more talkative than she would otherwise have been, since the gentlemen were rather boisterously discussing subjects to which she had nothing to contribute.
She liked that Frederick had some acquaintances here, though, and by the eagerness with which he participated in the conversation she judged that his need for such discussions was not fully satisfied at Kellynch. The admiral would come a long way, but of course he was lately preoccupied with his daughters and perhaps he had already spoken of everything he wanted to speak about. The information discussed now was new.
"Did you mind?" he asked when their visitors had all left to go to their various dinner engagements.
"Not at all," she assured him. "I noticed that they did not at all treat me strangely."
"No. Why should they do so?"
"Well, you never had me before, which they might know, but they did not seem overly curious when I suddenly came in."
Frederick did not think there was any reason for curiosity. "Well, I told them my wife was out and they said oh, you have a wife? And I said yes, you may see her when she comes back and that was it."
Anne raised her eyebrows at such simplicity. "But they did not at all study me to see whether I was a good wife for you, my appearance or my manners, nor did they ask where or when we had married."
"It will be enough for them that I like you. Only one commented on having seen you before. He now understood why you were here with my sister. I am sorry we have to keep bringing you to a place you abhor."
"I do not abhor being inside with you."
"I got tickets for a concert for tomorrow evening. We shall have to walk outside for a moment to get there. I hope you will come, or shall I be forced to ask somebody else?" he teased.
"Oh! I should love to go to a concert. I hope you packed something suitable for me to wear." She had not yet unpacked and seen what he had brought for her.
"I did. What did your father say?" He had not thought she looked upset. She had looked quite normal when she had come back. Perhaps it had gone well.
She gave him a puzzled look. "I am not sure. You made a great fortune, you are fit to be seen with, did we have engagements? Oh, and going to sea would be bad for my complexion."
"We shall be invited," Frederick concluded. "But I hope it will not be for tomorrow evening. We shall be at the concert then -- or will you ask me to exchange the tickets if he invites us?"
"Hmm, no. I think I should bow to my husband's wishes. Do you not think so? If he wishes to attend a concert, I should go along. It would be my duty." Anne gave him a demure and dutiful look.
"As your father has not yet done his duty towards you, I am tempted to agree. Otherwise I should want you to prefer the better company."
"You are the better company too."
Posted on Thursday, 16 November 2006
The next morning they did a little shopping. A little only, because Frederick kept meeting people who were either his own acquaintances or the admiral's. Anne grew a little tired from so much standing still and listening. She was glad when Frederick suggested they go back to their inn to get rid of their purchases.
She lay on the bed while he put everything away. They had only got books, music and shoes so far, which could not yet satisfy Frederick. They would have something to eat in a few minutes and then they would go out again to buy more. She must bear everything cheerfully. It would be over sooner if she did, but Bath was still not her favourite place.
"Anne…" Frederick addressed her. "Would you please get up?"
"Trying…" she responded, but she did not yet move. She could lie for another minute. He was not yet standing by the door.
"I must not join you, because of the meal we ordered. Therefore you must get up so as to take away the temptation."
"I tempt you?" She sounded highly surprised. "By…" She was not certain what.
"By lying there." He held out his hands so she could pull herself up. He must be strong and not give in to the desire to lie down next to her, as pleasant as it would undoubtedly be.
"Bath fatigues me. I am sorry. It is so crowded and noisy." Anne grasped his hands and felt herself being pulled upright. This was not inexplicable fatigue; this was Bath. Her spirits sank upon entering it.
Frederick drew her into his arms. "Compared to home, certainly, but it is nothing compared to truly crowded places."
She did not want to complain any more and gave him a wan smile. "Let us go and eat."
"I hope tonight's concert will not fatigue you," he said in concern. He wanted her to enjoy their outing and if there was anything he could do to encourage that, he would. "Shall we come here early so you can rest beforehand?"
"But…" Anne blinked a little at his worried tone. There was nothing wrong with her. "I was only being lazy. I think I can sit through a concert. I am sure I can. I was only lying down because you were busy and I had nothing to do."
"If you say so." He gave her an uncertain look. Whatever she said, he would make sure they were back here in time.
Anne was even more determined not to complain any more now and made an effort to be very energetic on their walk to their parlour.
Anne had managed to sit through the concert without any problems, but when they returned to their room, she suddenly felt exhausted. Frederick had to help her. When he eventually lay beside her, he wondered if it was all really due to the atmosphere of Bath that was not agreeing with her. He remembered telling Amelia once that Sophia had been more tired than usual. Anne seemed more tired than usual now as well, although he would have to wait until they were back at Kellynch to make a good comparison.
He was not yet tired, but although he had in the past week discovered how he could keep Anne awake, he refrained from trying whether such tactics also worked if she was exhausted. He was sufficiently caught up in such thoughts to make a sympathetic observation, however. "It is no wonder that he was so eager for us to go to Bath. After so many months with a tired wife he must have been eager for her attention."
Anne gave him a sleepy moan that indicated she was not yet asleep, although she would rather be. "Er?"
"Not having a wife at all is much easier than having one who is…" How should he describe it? One who had her back turned towards him and who would not be responsive until the morning. Even discussing the concert seemed to be impossible.
"Out of commission?" she said, repeating some words that had escaped Sophia. Surprisingly Sophia and she had both taken a liking to the terms their husbands employed for subjects they would rather not discuss. Still, since husbands were rather involved in these matters, parts of it ought to be discussed with them at times.
Frederick gasped at the language she was using, but perhaps more so at her instant comprehension. "Yes."
"Whom are you pitying precisely?" She did not think there was any need to pity anybody at all.
"Not myself. Not yet," he said emphatically. "I was merely imagining what I should come to feel if you were tired for a whole year. Quite frustrated, I expect, to have you there, but not have you there."
"What nonsense, Frederick," Anne said in a gentle voice. "You are mistaken."
"Your opinion of me is perhaps too high. Or too low. Do you think I am too selfish to be passive?" It was of course always in his power to wake her, but it would not be very kind. He could not imagine Anne being unkind in response, but he would certainly not blame her if she was.
"You woke me now," she said regretfully and rolled onto her back so she could speak to him better. "I believe you are mistaken about the out of commission business."
"How?"
"Well, a whole year, you say. That sounds rather long to me. If your sister needs a few weeks, as a normal person I may need a few more, but surely not much more than that?" She did not know where that notion of a whole year came from.
"A few weeks? Are we speaking at cross-purposes?" Frederick asked doubtfully.
"Perhaps you and whoever mentioned a whole year were speaking at cross-purposes." Since she supposed it could be none other than Admiral Croft, his words might not even be trustworthy. The man enjoyed exaggerating. He was also the last man who needed to be pitied.
"Nobody mentioned a whole year to me. It is what I deduced."
Anne turned her head to kiss him. "Do not deduce anything. Your sister does not lie. I am very bad at telling you everything she says and implies, but obviously we should talk. Perhaps you should continue to acquaint me with your thoughts so I can correct you. Perhaps you forgot that I told you what she told me about knowing when had been the exact date?"
He was forced to admit something now. "The only thing I forgot in that respect is telling you that the explanation was so full of mysterious female things I did not understand all of it, but that I thought I could leave the exact understanding of it to you. And well, I am still too proud to ask and you are still too modest to tell me everything. I am curious, but I do not wish to appear too stupid, so sometimes I let things pass."
"I love you." She was amused at his deciding to leave the understanding to her, but then being unable to suppress his own curiosity and thoughts. An inquisitive mind was a burden indeed.
He poked her. "That is not very enlightening."
"She knew the date because it was an isolated incident, long enough after the previous and certainly long enough before the subsequent incidents. Subsequent," she repeated. "After. Later. Reducing that year to…less."
"I know what it means, but -- I cannot believe she told you." His sister's indiscretion was incredible. Perhaps it was not so much his sister's indiscretion as his fear that she would expect similar revelations in return, although by all accounts she merely wished to be helpful.
Anne grinned in the darkness. "She did not. She showed me her…er…logbook to explain." There, another sailing term. It was Sophia's invention, in case he would ask. Sophia knew more of such words.
"Logbook!" Frederick asked. "What is that for?"
"A calendar in normal speak. I cannot see how a woman cannot keep a calendar. She does not want to be surprised by the mysterious female things if she is elsewhere. But Sophia marks more on it than I do. And these markings -- which she did not all explain, but I am far from stupid -- told me that she was certainly not out of commission for a year."
"I demand to see your logbook tomorrow."
"I doubt you packed it. A little red book? You cannot have known its purpose." She had not got anything out of her trunk herself. Frederick had done that for her because she was tired, so she did not know what he had packed.
"A little red book? I did pack that," he said smugly. "It did not take up any space and it seemed to contain your social engagements. So what is it?"
While they were at the concert the previous evening, an invitation had been delivered. Frederick read it several times as he waited for Anne to wake. Sir Walter and Miss Elliot would be delighted to receive them that evening. He imagined going, but it would be a different sort of engagement from the concert. His attention had been divided between the performance and Anne, something that had been perfectly justified there, but he did not know whether he could be so inattentive to other guests at Sir Walter's house. Well, he could, but whether it was appreciated was another matter.
He picked Anne's little red book off the bedside table. He had got that out of her trunk earlier, but it had been too dark to distinguish the pencil markings then. It might well be Bath, but it might well not be Bath, he deduced. Anne had told him not to deduce anything, he remembered, but he could not stop himself.
He laid the book back when he felt could not draw any objective conclusions at present. Perhaps it was his inability to see how a mere town could make someone tired that led him to suspect the alternative, but while he was never thus affected, Anne might well be. She even said so and why should she invent such a thing?
Anne woke a minute later. She was instantly capable of speech. "I am not tired now. See? Why were you afraid I was going to be tired day and night?"
"I was not. I was merely feeling sympathetic towards men with wives who were," he defended himself. "Because…it is obvious why."
"I even look forward to going out." She wanted to sit up.
He pulled her down. "Liar. Onto the noisy and crowded streets of Bath?"
"Would you be as unenthusiastic about being given a little Anne as you are a new gown?" Frederick whispered when some fabric was being wrapped for them. Anne had not been in raptures and although he knew it was not in her nature to behave in such an exuberant manner, he could not resist teasing her a little.
Anne choked. "I beg your pardon?"
"I would give them with equal enthusiasm, but at present you must settle for the gown -- although they may be ready at the same time."
She was incapable of giving him a reply instantly and she postponed that until they were outside again. "You would speak of that in a shop!"
He looked careless. "Nobody could hear me but you."
"But they could tell from my blush that you were saying something very…"
"Blush? Which blush? You speak of logbooks and being out of commission as if it is nothing, but the mention of a little Anne makes you blush?" he teased.
"You are very eager for one," she said, observing his face.
"I am very eager to provide for my family by buying them things, but you will not let me. I think we should have a larger family so you will not have to bear the sole burden of my desire to spend money. I shall raise little Anne to be more gracious."
She snorted and then her eyes darted around to ascertain that nobody had heard her make such an unrefined sound. "Are you serious?" She was slightly worried that she should indeed be more gracious and grateful, but she was not used to someone spending so much money.
"Sadly, to some extent I am," he had to admit. "Do not tell other people."
"But…" Anne looked up at him with a grave expression. What would happen if he was disappointed? "What if there is nothing?"
Frederick could not really believe that. "We steal one of Sophia's."
"Oh, look!" Before Anne could turn her head to look at whatever Frederick was pointing, she felt herself being pulled into a shop. She was glad that his business there appeared to be for his sister and nieces, although she was rather taken aback at the amount of money he spent.
She addressed him shyly when they were outside again. "Did you order that crib so the baskets would be free for a new occupant by the time you seem to think that will be necessary?"
"New occupant?" He looked surprised and then he began to grin. "Oh, no! That never even occurred to me, but it is an additional advantage indeed."
"Oh. I thought you were --"
"Obsessed?" He laughed. "Perhaps, although I was merely thinking she would not have the opportunity to travel to town before my nieces grow out of their baskets. We cannot really expect James to go alone, can we? I am sure he would prefer us to do it for him, so he can stay with all his women."
"I was not expecting men to think of these things."
"I was not thinking of it at all, but something in the shop window gave me an idea."
She had not been looking at the shop window and they had left it behind already, so she could not see what had inspired him. "And you acted instantly."
"Yes, why not? I wonder that you did not think of it first."
"Indeed. But what if it is not to their taste?" she asked, but Frederick looked incredulous at the idea that someone might disagree with his taste. He did not know what to say and Anne took pity on him. "I concede that was a stupid question. You have excellent taste."