‘I am much obliged to you, but I am not going with them,’ she said. ‘The carriage would not accommodate so many. I walk: I prefer walking.’
‘But it rains,’ I said.
‘Oh! very little. Nothing that I regard,’ she returned.
An inspiration hit me, and I offered her my umbrella. Then I thought of a better suggestion, and begged to be allowed to get her a chair.
‘I am very much obliged to you, but the rain will come to nothing, I am sure,’ she said.
I was about to offer her my arm as well as my umbrella and walk her home, thanking Providence for the opportunity that had been thrown in my way, when she dashed my hopes by saying that she was waiting for her cousin, Mr Elliot, who had just gone on an errand and would be returning at any minute.
So Elliot was in Bath, and she preferred walking with him to walking with me. I was downcast. What had he been saying to her whilst they had been in Bath? Had he been making love to her? Winning her affections?
At that moment, I saw him walking down the street, and I felt my spirits sink. He would not have any difficulty in winning her family’s approval, if he wanted her for his wife. Her sister might be jealous, it was true, and this might distress Anne for a while. But other than that, in age, appearance, birth and fortune he was an excellent match.
Was that how she would see it? I asked myself, glancing at her profile. I could not believe it. No, not Anne, who had a heart as deep as mine, and who would not marry without love, I was sure.
But perhaps she loved him. Perhaps she could see in him everything she had seen in me eight years before.
At that moment, Elliot walked in. I recollected him perfectly. There was no difference between him and the man who had stood on the steps at Lyme, admiring Anne as she passed, except in his air, because, whereas before he had looked at her as an admiring stranger, now he looked at her in the manner of a privileged friend. He appeared to see and think only of her, apologized for his stay, and was grieved to have kept her waiting. He was anxious to get her away without further loss of time, and before the rain increased; and in another moment they walked off together, her arm under his, saying only a ‘Good morning to you!’ before they left.
As soon as they were out of sight, the ladies in my own party began talking of them, saying that Mr Elliot appeared to like Miss Anne very much. Mrs Lytham said that her friend Mrs Veer had told her that Mr Elliot was always with her family, and that it was easy to see how it would end.
I was devastated. To lose Anne to a man like Elliot, when I had been so close to speaking to her myself!
‘She is pretty, I think, Anne Elliot; very pretty when one comes to look at her. It is not the fashion to say so, but I confess I admire her more than her sister,’ said Mrs Lytham.
‘Oh! so do I,’ replied Miss Stanhope.
‘And so do I,’ replied another. ‘No comparison. But the men are all wild after Miss Elliot. Anne is too delicate for them. What do you think, Captain Wentworth? Do you not think her the handsomer of the two?’
I was about to reply truthfully, and to say that indeed I did, when I recollected my manners and said that I thought both ladies extremely beautiful.
‘Very politic!’ said Lytham with a laugh.
‘Ay,’ said Mr Runcorne. ‘Never be drawn on the relative beauty of ladies, for you may be sure it will come to their ears, and though you will have the smiles of one for ever more, you will have the other’s frowns.’
The men laughed heartily, and the women continued to talk of Anne.
‘A pretty woman, and not as proud as her father and sister,’ said Miss Stanhope. ‘She has an old school friend, a Mrs Smith, you know, who lives in poverty in Westgate Buildings. Many people would drop such an acquaintance, for it is not a nice neighbourhood, but Miss Anne visits her friend assiduously.’
‘Are you sure?’ asked Mrs Lytham.
‘I am, for I have seen her there myself as my carriage was driving through the neighbourhood.’
‘Then that is another thing in her favour. Mr Elliot will be getting a good, as well as a pretty, wife,’ said Lytham.
‘A spring wedding, I think,’ said Mrs Lytham.
A spring wedding! I could not bear to think of it! To lose Anne, so soon, to another man?
‘Impossible!’ I broke out.
The whole party looked at me, startled, and I felt myself redden with embarrassment. I sought around for an explanation for my outburst, and luckily, one was to hand.
‘He was wearing crêpe around his hat. He is in mourning,’ I said.
‘Ah, yes, very true. A summer wedding, then,’ said Mrs Lytham.
‘He might not care to marry again,’ I said, more to convince myself than Mrs Lytham.
‘He does not seem to be inconsolable,’ she remarked. ‘Quite the reverse. He seems very interested in Miss Anne. What kind of woman was his wife?’
‘Not a woman of any birth, but intelligent, accomplished and an heiress, by all accounts,’ said Miss Stanhope.
‘Ah.’
‘She fell in love with him—’
‘I am not surprised, for he is a fine-looking man.’
‘—and she was determined to have him.’
‘Really? I heard it was he who pursued her,’ said Lytham.
‘Not a bit of it. He was destined for Miss Elliot,’ said Miss Stanhope.
‘Then Miss Elliot should have fixed him when she had the chance,’ said Mrs Lytham.
‘She tried, on more than one occasion. She and her father sought him out in London some ten years ago. They made much of him, and invited him back to Kellynch Hall, but he was a young man at the time, I might even say a very young man, and country relatives were not to his taste, so that he slipped the net.’
‘My dear, where did you hear all this?’
‘At the Pump Rooms, where else?’ said Miss Stanhope.
‘Ah, of course.’
‘And, now that he is a widower, it appears he prefers Miss Anne,’ Miss Stanhope finished.
‘She will be the future Lady Elliot, then, and mistress of Kellynch,’ said Mrs Lytham. ‘That will be hard for her sister to bear. But I am glad of it. I like her. She will fill the role very well.’ She turned to me. ‘Your brother has rented the Elliot’s house, I believe, Captain Wentworth?’
‘That is so. He took it at Michaelmas.’
‘A good time of year for a remove. Does he mean to stay there?’
‘For the time being, yes.’
‘Then he had better hope that Sir Walter does not meet with an accident, or Sir Walter’s heir will be wanting it back again!’
‘Is his fortune very large?’ asked Lytham.
‘Certainly,’ said Mrs Runcorne. ‘He is now a man of means, and lives with liberality—my cousin was acquainted with him in town.’
They began to ask me about Kellynch Hall. I did not want to speak of it; it held too many memories; but the ladies would not be satisfied without a minute description of the principal rooms.
To my relief, that seemed to satisfy them, for the conversation then turned away from Anne and moved on to their other acquaintance.
I dreaded the topic returning, however, for I could not trust myself to be silent if Mr Elliot was mentioned again, and so I took my leave.
I was engaged to dine with Sophia and Benjamin, but I found it difficult to keep my mind on the conversation at dinner. I found myself trying to decide what I would say to Anne when I saw her, but I could think of nothing that satisfied me. I decided to rely on the genius of the moment, and I only hope my wits do not desert me.