Beginning, Previous Section, Section XIII
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Posted on Sunday, 19 November 2006
Sir Walter and Elizabeth were almost all politeness when they received Captain and Mrs Wentworth. An onlooker would not know they had not seen the captain for eight years, nor that the previous time Miss Elliot had spoken to her sister the latter had still been unmarried. No, an onlooker was spared such intimate family details.
Anne was glad there was no embarrassing conversation, but that the past was ignored. She worried a little for Frederick's sake, but he was easy about this sort of civility. They were together. Neither would allow the other to be made uncomfortable. Another silent exchange of looks confirmed that.
He had not been nervous about going, but she had. He had even made her rest beforehand, although she had said it was not necessary. They had risen late and she was not as tired as the day before. Bath also seemed to have been quieter today, although that was very likely only in her imagination. Perhaps she could grow used to it.
She wore her mother's necklace and a gown Frederick had packed for her. Either he knew what would look good or he had been lucky, but his choice was excellent for this party.
Going further into the room, Anne suddenly found herself facing a man. She halted. Frederick, who was forced to halt as well, did not meet the man's look with indifference. There was too much appreciation for Anne there and he remembered the odious cousin who had lusted after her. This must be him. Frederick smugly noted that the man might be the heir to a baronetcy, but that in appearance he was certainly inferior.
"Miss Elliot!" said the man. "My dear cousin."
"Mr Elliot." Anne tried to smile. She had done nothing to deserve such an address. "But I am Mrs Wentworth now. This is my husband, Captain Wentworth."
The gentlemen exchanged stiff and hostile bows, the words dear cousin not appreciated by one and my husband not by the other.
"Truly? Is this not another gentleman of the Navy toying with me?" Mr Elliot wondered.
"You must mean Admiral Croft," said Anne after a moment. Mr Elliot must have noticed he had been tricked. "But he never said I was his wife."
"No, he never said," Mr Elliot agreed, implying that yet everything else had been done to give that impression. Perhaps he wished to make somebody suspicious.
"This is truly my wife." Frederick sounded proud and confident, and not at all affected by any impressions his brother-in-law might have been intending to give.
Anne beamed, but she was slightly surprised at how Mr Elliot, who had seemed such an intimate acquaintance of the family last time, had not been informed of her marriage. She could not imagine he had not heard of it. Perhaps he was pretending not to know.
Mr Elliot appeared to be dwelling on the same. "I see," he said thoughtfully and then he gave them a sort of smile. "My best wishes. It must have been a quick marriage, but one must indeed move quickly with such a pretty creature as my cousin."
"Not really," Frederick said in an amiable voice, although none of his amiability was sincere. Such complimentary civilities were in fact insulting. Anne would not marry the man who made the quickest move. "Her heart is constant and patient, not fickle."
"I certainly never meant to imply that Miss -- Mrs Wentworth was fickle," Mr Elliot hastened to say.
"And you also do not appear to give pretty…er…creatures --" He gave that word all the doubtful emphasis it deserved. "-- much credit for having a will and preference of their own when it comes to husbands."
Anne would rather they made some other creature the subject of their exchange. She was as embarrassed as she was pleased. She doubted that Mr Elliot would ever support a wife to such an extent.
"Some do indeed," said Mr Elliot.
Frederick knew all the advantages were on his side, from having a loving wife to being taller and more handsome. He gave a condescending nod. "If you say so. I have not made a study of them."
The rooms were small. It was not surprising that at some point Frederick found himself next to Miss Elliot. She tried to ignore him, but he gave her a stare that invited her to speak at least a few empty words of civility. He watched as she struggled to find something to say. He would call her sister if she said nothing. That was bound to elicit a reaction. To have become the sister of a sailor!
"I understand you are to live at Kellynch," she said finally. "Why?"
He knew nothing about Sophia's worries about the lease and would not be able to imagine how the twins could affect it. Consequently he did not see why they could not be mentioned. "Anne likes it best and my sister needs some help."
"Running such a large house," Miss Elliot guessed knowingly. Not everyone was suited to the task.
"No, with her daughters."
She looked puzzled at the mention of daughters. "I was under the assumption that your sister was Mrs Croft."
"She is."
"But she has no daughters."
"She does now."
"Where have those come from? How old are they? Were they orphans?" She did not think it should be allowed for Mrs Croft to take strays into the house, not into Kellynch Hall.
"A week or two. And they are not orphans. My sister is still alive and so is her husband."
She stared. "Mrs Croft…"
"Gave birth to them herself," Frederick nodded solemnly. "About two weeks ago. Two girls."
Miss Elliot was sufficiently amazed to forget herself. "Dear god, the next thing we shall hear is of Lady Russell having them!" The ladies were the same age, she thought.
Frederick did not think it possible to suspect Henry Croft of such behaviour, or even of Lady Russell not fainting during the preliminaries. Besides, they were not even married. Anne was. "Lady Russell? Why not Anne?"
Miss Elliot shuddered and excused herself. Frederick joined Anne again.
"What did my sister say?" she asked. She had been observing their exchange with curiosity and had not been able to imagine what could be said.
"She feared the next woman to have children would be Lady Russell."
"Why?" Anne exclaimed. "Oh, what did you tell her?" She feared it was something about her.
He smiled at her fearful look. "I told her about my nieces, but apparently she had considered it as likely for Sophia to have children as it would be for Lady Russell."
"What did you say?"
"Lady Russell? Why not Anne?"
"Oh, you should not inform everyone of that," she said with a blush. "But why did you tell her about your nieces? Sophia feared for the lease if that became known."
Until he had seen Miss Elliot's reaction he would have considered that ridiculous. "Only if she had taken in lowly-born orphans. I think her own offspring may be respectable, if incomprehensible. And of what should I not inform everyone?"
"Your hopes. People may come to think it is more than a hope and then…"
"Indeed. In many cases it is the expected consequence of marriage," he spoke in a low voice. He did not think other people would give it any thought at all, least of all people who lived in Bath and who had more interesting personages about whom to wonder.
"Oh! It is Elizabeth sent by my father to speak about the Crofts renting Kellynch while they have children, I am sure," she said, watching her sister approach. She could only assume Elizabeth had gone to him directly to spread the news.
"If they are that stupid, we shall take over the lease and take in my homeless sister," Frederick assured her in an even lower voice. He finished speaking just in time.
"Anne," Elizabeth said coolly. "Father wishes to introduce you to our cousins, Lady Dalrymple and Miss Carteret. And you too, I suppose," she added with half a glance at Frederick.
"We shall be delighted," he said solemnly and was promptly subjected to an explanation from Elizabeth as to how he should address the Dowager Viscountess, for he could never before have encountered anybody of such an elevated rank. Only Anne could see what he truly thought of these instructions, but he considered himself to be very polite. "I am most grateful for your assistance, sister," he said to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth gaped for a second, but then she quickly turned.
The important introduction being over, Sir Walter called some of his guests for a game of cards. Anne quickly retired to the far end of the room to escape such a fate. She sat down. "Say it," she requested.
"I have nothing to say," Frederick denied with an innocent look.
"I could see you did."
"With such a perfect insight into my mind you will also have seen what I could have said had I chosen to speak."
"Yes, she admitted. "And you called Elizabeth sister."
He gave her a grin. "Well, she is, much to her dismay. I could not resist pointing that out." He would, however, not take such a liking to a new sister as Anne had taken to hers.
"Lady Dalrymple was taken with you, I could see." A few smiles and polite words and Lady Dalrymple was swayed.
"Jealous, Anne?"
"No. I thought it was amusing. My father is bound to follow her preferences and recommendations, as sad as it is. In our case, however, it is also fortunate."
"How could anybody not be taken with me?" he wondered. "You are too, are you not? Well, you may no longer be when you notice what I did."
"Oh dear, what did you do?" she asked, more curious than anxious.
"I wrote some comments on your calendar." His eyes gleamed mischievously.
Anne stared. "Such as?"
"You will see. I do not think it is appropriate to go into detail at your father's evening party."
"Take me home and stop teasing me. When did you do this?" They shared a room and she had not noticed it at all.
"When you were partaking of that rest you had so violently declared unnecessary. You were gone the moment you lay down and I seized my chance. You had been remiss in noting some things down, Mrs Wentworth." He clicked his tongue. She had not noted down her wedding to her wonderful husband, which was the most important event by far.
"I am not as desperate as your sister!" she whispered vehemently, fearing the worst. "It was a testament to her madness. She told me she was not obsessed and I agreed, but that was before I ever laid eyes on her fastidious recordkeeping."
"Anne," Frederick said in surprise. "Did I really hear you call Sophia desperate, mad, obsessed and fastidious?" Those were strong words for Anne, especially since he believed she truly liked Sophia.
"She is cured now, but yes, I do believe she was. That is not to say I am not sympathetic to her suffering, but I now believe some of it was her own doing -- as she well knows, I am sure. Perhaps she is not yet cured at all," she amended after a moment when she remembered some comments. "They really tell each other far too often they will not have any more children. It sounds very calm when they do, but I distrust it."
He was silent for a minute and then he spoke gravely. "I did not note down anything of that nature. Do not suspect me of being equally desperate. I merely made some silly comments that perhaps only reveal too high an opinion of myself."
Posted on Wednesday, 22 November 2006
When they returned to their room, however, Anne was far too tired to remember to check her calendar for any comments Frederick had added to it. He was a little amused at the explanation she was bound to give for her exhaustion if he asked and confident as he was, he did not think he needed to ask her anything. She would blame it on the party and the fatiguing mixture of people of rank and people of looks.
He put an arm around her and listened to her breathing as he thought of her opinion that Sophia was obsessed. He had always thought his sister was merely obsessed with her husband, but perhaps the problem was that that had never really been compatible with any other wishes she might have had. He had never heard her mention those and why any obsessions remained was a mystery, because everything was compatible now.
Frederick would not call himself obsessed. He would not have thought so much about Anne's fatigue if he did not think he had a very good reason to disagree with her on the matter, which was not all wishful thinking. Perhaps Anne was as cautious as she believed Sophia to be. She certainly did not want to disappoint him by raising his hopes too quickly, but whether she had any wishes of her own was unclear.
She was usually guarded in her comments and she had not revealed many of her thoughts, but neither had she worried about what might be happening at Kellynch and that was a good thing. She seemed to concentrate more on the present and not on the future or places far away. He was not at all worried about Kellynch himself. Sophia would be fine.
He thought of his performance at the party. Any insincerity had been for Anne's sake. His appearance was always good and his manners had been tolerable. All in all he thought the impression he had made had been favourable. It was vain of him, but Sir Walter could not find fault with his daughter for having acquired such a husband.
Unbeknownst to them, Sophia missed Anne and Frederick terribly, primarily because of their usefulness. She was on her own in dealing with a sick husband, two demanding daughters and four other Crofts, all of whom needed care and entertainment. Only Henry was being good by not being there, although one had best not wonder what he was up to.
Sophia had put James on one of the sofas downstairs so that he might be of use in speaking to his brothers if he felt well enough. It also saved her many trips upstairs to see how he was doing and except for the regular visits to her girls, she was able to give him all the attention he needed, tucking him in, feeding him soup and ruffling his hair.
Although he had recently said he loved being ill, it really happening so shortly afterwards was a coincidence and he did not enjoy it quite as much as he had said he did. He would have preferred her attentions without suffering the illness, but as Sophia had quite rightly pointed out, he had had plenty of her attentions shortly before he fell ill and he would have them again afterwards -- if he was a big boy.
However, not many of the Crofts were big boys. James was wallowing in self-pity on the sofa, Henry could not remember to come home in time and David and John stuttered in shock at the order to collect Henry from the Lodge. The task fell to Rupert, who childishly complained that he was always being made to do things because he was the youngest.
One of the few good things that had arisen from the situation was that old Mr Croft had been forced to hold Margaret when James turned his head to vomit onto the floor. Catherine was fine lying where she was, but Margaret always required personal attention or she would cry, so Sophia had seen no other option but to give her to her grandfather. Mr Croft whimpered and Margaret already opened her mouth in indignation, but no more sounds were made when apparently both sides decided to give the arrangement a try.
"Shall we go home again today?" Frederick inquired the next morning when he felt Anne had woken. "We have been rather efficient about our shopping." Even he could not think what else they might need and they were not so far from Bath as to make another trip impossible in the near future.
"Have we?" That surprised her. Efficient meant something else to her. It came closer to dealing with a list in the shortest time possible, but they had come to town without a list. All purchases had been spontaneous.
"Yes, we have and we did our duty by appearing at your father's party and behaving ourselves." They had even received a civil goodbye when they left. There was nevertheless no need to stay to further the acquaintance. Such a wish would be absent on either side.
"I behaved myself," said Anne, implying that Frederick had not. "Now give me that calendar."
"Ah, you remember." He reached for it and handed it to her. His additions were not what she was fearing and he felt no hesitation.
"It is very bad, but I cannot disagree with all of it," she decided after reading. It relieved her. "But I do hope nobody ever lays eyes on this or people would pity you sincerely, my -- and you will remember exactly which superlatives you used to describe yourself -- Frederick, whom I forced to marry and bathe me."
"Do you agree with the forcing or the superlatives?" If she was at all sensible she should agree with neither, but she was perhaps too kind to be openly sensible.
"What do you think?" she teased.
"Hmm. I am not certain. I can think of good reasons for both. Let us go home today. You will think me very wonderful then."
"I cannot object. Do you think of it as home?" That would please her. She did not want him to live there against his will, only because she liked it there. Although she did not think he lived there against his will, that was still different from truly enjoying it.
"I do. Home is where you are."
"I am in Bath," Anne pointed out, although her feelings were not quite so logical.
"I could be at home with you in Bath, but you could not be at home with me here, so I shall have to take you to your proper home and --" He stopped when she embraced him. "That seems to make you very happy indeed."
"Are you at least a little bit pleased with our purchases?" Frederick wondered after dwelling on it for some time. After he had promised Anne they would go home, she had been dressed and ready so speedily that it had made him wonder, although her frequent sweet assurances that he was wonderful had done a little to counter his doubts.
"I am more pleased with you."
That too was flattering, but it was not exactly conversation, nor a good answer to his question. "But what we bought…"
"Yes, but what you do for me means more than what you buy for me, although I am happy with that as well. Truly. We stayed just long enough and I am sorry I was tired. But," she said when he wanted to say something about her fatigue. "Do not say it."
"Would it not make you happy to hear it?"
"It makes me happy to know I made the right choice," Anne said with a little smile. "But you should not be too hasty. It will come out if it is so."
"That it will!" he exclaimed. Literally, too.
She tapped his leg. "Patience. Now I loved the fabric."
"Have it made into a gown very quickly or you will grow out of it," Frederick advised, his eyes sparkling.
"Frederick," she said helplessly. He was not listening to her, but simply continuing down his obsessive path.
"The closer to your current size you make it, the more you will have left for a little gown for…" He halted when he supposed it needed not be a girl. No son of his was going to be allowed to wear that kind of fabric.
Anne peered into his eyes. "Are you truly obsessed or are you teasing me?"
"I am trying to discern your feelings on the matter, but you are very good at hiding them from me." Well, she tried, but he could see some nevertheless.
"I am cautious," she protested. "Why do you expect to succeed after a few times only if it takes others years?"
"I did not, not until you began to be tired. Then I wondered and decided I should really like it. However, if it is not so…" He smiled at her anxious look. "I shall be perfectly happy as well. And try again now and then. I do not mind trying."
"I know," Anne murmured. "That is so unfair. And you will not even have to give birth either."
Arriving back at Kellynch in the last light of the day, they found Admiral Croft stretched out upon a sofa all by himself. "Oh, company!" he greeted them. "Everyone else has deserted me because I vomited."
"I do not blame them!" said Frederick, although he supposed it had long been cleaned up because there was no sign of it anymore. "Why did you vomit?"
His expression instantly turned pathetic. "I am ill."
"Why are you in here then and not in bed?"
"Sophy put me here. It saves her walking time because of course I need a lot of attention. Of course now she had to walk out to the Lodge to fetch Henry for dinner, because everybody else made themselves scarce -- and after I do not know how many days Henry still does not know he should dine here, not even when Lady Russell does not feed him."
"She does not?" Anne exclaimed. She could not imagine Lady Russell not giving a visitor to her house any food at all if he stayed a while, especially since she had more or less invited him herself. It surprised her that Henry had still not finished drawing. They had been away for a few days.
"She wishes to be rid of him by nightfall, as if he is more dangerous then. Sophia and she decided that the last thing she should do in that case is give him meals. He might come to think he is a stray cat."
"You do not sound very ill," Anne said critically.
"I am ill enough not to have been allowed near my own daughters for days," the admiral complained. "Now they will have forgotten who I am. And because they sleep near Sophy, she put me in another room and I had to sleep all alone, which I cannot do. Oh, what is taking Sophy so long? Did Henry get himself entangled with Lusty Rusty?"
"Who?" Anne cried in deep shock, but Frederick had dropped onto the other sofa to laugh.
"Lady Russell." He watched as Anne left the room, but her departure did not worry him. She seemed more taken aback than disapproving. "I see Anne does not appreciate my stroke of genius very much."
"Well, you are calling her godmother lusty."
"The opposite, in fact, but rusty she is twice over. She has sort of rusty hair and well…"
Frederick was torn between amusement and wondering if he should feel any indignation on Anne's behalf. "I have to agree you do not sound very ill. You must be recovering."
"Vomiting does not affect my head. Although I am lying here all day thinking of these things and my witticisms are not very spontaneous."
"I beg you not to address the woman as such. She would faint." But then Frederick looked wicked. "If every man in the neighbourhood could make Lady Russell faint at least once that would be a sort of record, would it not? You would only be the third -- that I know of. There might be more. It does not appear to take much effort to accomplish it."
"I somehow fear my wife will not appreciate such boldness to another woman. I am still smarting from her particularly sharp parting shot."
Frederick was unaffected, since he did not take that smarting very seriously. "I pity you."
"Yes, do, as it was wholly undeserved. Sophia does not fear anything scandalous will arise at the Lodge, because Crofts are none too bold in amorous matters." The admiral looked incredulous. "This after my first words to her consisted of an invitation to share my cabin."
"But that would prove her right, as it was, I was told, not an amorous matter."
"No, it was not, but given that I ended up with a wife and children, perhaps one should not so easily underestimate a Croft." He did not think Sophia deserved all the credit for that. Not more than half, he would say.
"And you do not think Lady Russell is as safe as Sophia thinks she is."
"Who knows what Henry might do with a little encouragement? He is not without intelligence and good looks. Some encouragement might well come his way," his brother reasoned. "Not that I suspect Lady Russell of giving him any, but my point was that even Crofts are weak in the face of encouragement."
Frederick stretched out on the other sofa and folded his hands behind his head. He had decided he was comfortable where he was. If Anne was still tired, she would be lying down and not in need of him. "Or is that strong? It depends what comes of it."
"It depends on the temptress as well. I think you and I might be a little too young to view Lusty Rusty as a temptress." He was glad Frederick had returned so he could finally have a nonsensical conversation. His younger brothers would not have responded. They were a little too serious.
"Too young!" Frederick burst into laughter. "You?"
"Too young and too married. I am, however, interested in who might become my sister. One must try to remain on a sister's good side."
Frederick thought of Miss Elliot and chuckled. He was not certain he had managed that.
Posted on Saturday, 25 November 2006
"My brother Frederick has returned to add to the count of useless men," Sophia observed when she returned and peeked into the room where she had left her husband. She could not call them anything else, for they were each stretched out on a sofa and chuckling at something that would undoubtedly not be amusing to anyone else. There was a particular sound to those chuckles that was suspicious; it was almost giggling.
"Well," she said to Lady Russell when she had closed the door again very quietly. "I am not sure whether I should leave you here with James and Frederick. Perhaps you would prefer to come upstairs with me. I must nurse the twins."
"I do not know what would be more distressing," Lady Russell replied doubtfully. She was not very equal to the sight of nursing, especially not if it was someone she did not know very well. She would not like to be seen in such a position herself.
"This." Sophia indicated the door. She took her neighbour's arm and led her towards the stairs. "It would have been all right before you allowed Henry into your house, but now…"
"I never knew he would not be finished in a day!" she protested. "I thought it would be a few hours and no more. How could I first say yes and then no? It would have been impolite and --"
"Wait! Talk to James. Tell him so. He would stop making comments to me if you did." Sophia turned and led her back. Such a logical explanation could not fail to convince him that he ought to restrain himself.
Lady Russell froze. "Comments?" She did not want to imagine what those could be. Comments from the admiral and showings of skin from the captain! "And you would leave me with both of them?"
Sophia opened the door. "Frederick, go upstairs." She had just told Henry the same and he had obeyed. She had no reason to assume Frederick might not.
As it was, he was not as tractable as Henry and other arguments had to be used, for he did not move. Henry had been meek and obedient because he knew full well he had again lost track of the time. Frederick's case was the opposite -- he had come home before anyone expected him.
Sophia gently pushed Lady Russell into the room, wondering if this could get her brother to move. "Here, James, I have brought you new company. Frederick? Come and tell me about Bath."
The switch was eventually made and Lady Russell found herself sitting stiffly on her seat, anxiously anticipating Admiral Croft's first question.
"How was Bath? Did you behave yourself?" Sophia inquired.
"I have been a most obliging and attentive husband," Frederick said solemnly. "And incredibly civil to my wife's family. If one is handsome, civil and rich, one does not even have to be kind to Anne to be accepted."
Sophia grimaced. She did not doubt that was indeed the sad state of affairs, although she felt pleased that apparently he had been accepted. "What did Anne think?"
He shrugged. "She knows them. I do not think she expected too much. And you? Have you been an obliging and attentive wife? James sent us to Bath to have some time alone with you, but you seem to be running to and fro and leaving him on the sofa to let some very wicked notions fester in his brain."
Sophia sighed. "I am about to collapse, if you must know. James already did. I knew his not sleeping enough would wreck him eventually. And now I am not sleeping enough myself because I cannot sleep without him, yet I do not want him near the girls while he is ill."
"He did not sound very ill to me. I am sure you could allow him back into bed," Frederick said soothingly. "If you tell him to sleep while he is there, of course. Why did he not?"
She glanced at his face and decided it was a wholly innocent question. James must not have talked. "The girls wake us during the night. I sleep a little during the day because of that, but James does not because his family are here. He does not have to get up at all in the middle of the night, but he does, because he is still very excited by everything."
"But…" Frederick looked puzzled. "If you can sleep without him during the day, why can you not sleep without him during the night?"
Sophia looked puzzled now too. She had no idea.
"A scandalous revelation from you would cure me," said Admiral Croft after telling himself a few times it was Lady Russell, not Lusty Rusty and he had best not address her incorrectly. However, seeing the lady in the flesh he knew he had not been mistaken. She was as passionate as a piece of wood and her hair was quite reddish.
"I am sorry to disappoint you," Lady Russell said stiffly.
"Nothing scandalous or no revelations at all?"
"Admiral, Mrs Croft sent me here to tell you the truth, so you would stop making comments to her."
"I know the truth," he said with a confident grin. "I suspect my brother is somewhat like me."
She looked a little suspicious. "As I do not know what you are like, such a remark has no meaning to me."
He smiled because she did not instantly assume he was a rake with a girl in every port. Should she ask, he had his answer ready. He had had a girl in every port, but always the same one and before her, none. "Henry would do nothing to you. However, would you do anything to him?"
She gasped. "Admiral! How dare you insinuate that I am a sort of…"
The admiral was unperturbed. "I insinuate nothing. I asked. Shall I tell you about my wedding?"
"Admiral, no. The topic of weddings is quite irrelevant to the current situation."
"The topic of Croft men is not."
"Your brother has been making sketches of the interior of my house. I do not see why this excites you so. Or him, for that matter," she added under her breath. "I thought he might be there for a few hours, not a few days. And as I said to Mrs Croft, how could I allow a day, but not two? And then two days, but not three?"
"That is a grave dilemma indeed, madam," he said with a nod. "It would have been very impolite to tell him to go away in the middle of a sketch you first allowed him to start. But it puzzles me somewhat that a lady of your good breeding allowed him to begin new sketches after he was so scandalous as to stay the night."
Lady Russell's cheeks became slightly less pale. "He apologised and assured me it was an error that would not occur again."
"And his entire family had to be involved in making sure it did not, because obviously he could not leave you without being forced to." It would have happened again if they had not fetched Henry from the Lodge each day.
"He could not leave his sketchbook," she said with a frustrated hiss. "Do you think I sat with him all day? I had better things to do."
"Why has he not yet finished his drawings? Your house never struck me as overly large." He would never believe it took so long to draw all of it.
Lady Russell sighed. "It is because he insists on making about ten versions of everything. The staircase as it is, the staircase as it might also be, and so forth."
A new thought struck him. "Does he also ask you to pose as a model on your staircases?"
She stared, her eyes huge. "Pose as a model?"
"That is a pity. Perhaps you do not colour well with the background. It would have been amusing, though. To me. It must be horrendous to be draped in one attitude for so long."
"But apart from my exhaustion, I could not be happier. Even their grandfather is beginning to think the girls very adorable." Sophia looked very pleased with that. "We have both made some progress with our spouse's family."
"Now that we are back we can help you entertain the rest of them," said Frederick. "Although Anne…" He wondered if she was still going to be tired here. In that case she might not be as useful as before.
"You did bring her back, I hope?" asked his sister. "Where is she?"
"Either in the nursery or in bed," Frederick guessed. "She fled from us."
Sophia felt a little pride at having seen that the discussion in the drawing room could not have been amusing to anyone else. She knew them well. "I hope you did not drag her all over Bath, the poor girl."
"With frequent stops," he assured her.
"Did you buy her many things? She was afraid you would."
"Too much, she thought, but I disagree. I also bought some things for you. It surprised Anne and she thought I wanted your babies out of their baskets so we could fill them with our own children, but I ordered small beds for them because I did not think you would have the chance to do so yourself." He looked very proud of himself. He had been such a considerate brother and uncle.
Sophia paused to snort. "You…ordered beds?"
"I did."
"And Anne thought you…" That conversation must have been intriguing and amusing enough, if he could tell her about it.
"Yes," he sighed. "She did. Truly. The things she thinks of me!"
Sophia leant against the wall to catch her breath. "How could you be surprised? You have been worrying about this from day one!"
"Well…" He coloured. "Not exactly from day one. And it is always nice to have tangible proof of success."
"Also known as a happy wife," she said pointedly. "That is a more direct confirmation than months of waiting."
He rolled his eyes. "I am sure she is happy as well, but she is more cautious than I am and she blamed everything on not liking Bath, so I may have teased her a little by blaming it on something else. But as far as the baskets are concerned, I never thought of freeing them up for our own child. I was merely being helpful to you, because I did not think you would be able to go to Bath soon and you would not be able to send James, because he would not go without you, I thought. And I was right, because if he already complains so much about having to sleep in another room…"
"Yes, that is very true and I had not yet given the matter any thought. I am surprised you did." She gave a little giggle at how domesticated he had become.
"I am surprised at my goodness and foresight as well. They should be delivered in a month."
They reached the nursery. Only the nursery maid and the babies were there. Anne was not and Frederick supposed she had gone to their room. He looked at the twins, expressed his admiration at their growth -- although he saw none -- and then continued on to find Anne. She was not in bed, but she was unpacking. He felt some guilt for having lain on the sofa indulging in bad jokes while she had been making herself useful, although no reproaches came his way, only a sweet smile.
"Oh Anne," he said, lifting her up a little. She was too good.
"What did I do?" she wondered.
"It is what I did not do."
"Oh."
She still looked charmingly puzzled and he felt compelled to kiss her. "I hope you were not offended by the conversation."
"No, but I thought the two of you would enjoy it more if you did not have to think of my sensibilities -- or what you believe them to be. I know better than to take his oddities very seriously and you provided the appreciative audience he has obviously been lacking all day."
Posted on Tuesday, 28 November 2006
Lady Russell had observed Admiral Croft for a while without speaking. She could hardly tell him directly that she considered him rather strange, yet she could not think anything else of him. He seemed to be able to read her mind, because sometimes he gave her a smile that conveyed his amusement at her expression. They sat there in silence, but to her surprise it was not too uncomfortable. He did not seem to think her as strange as she thought him.
She was nevertheless glad when old Mr Croft appeared with one of his younger sons, but they were as little inclined to speak to her as she was to them. She wondered if they too suspected her of doing all manner of things with Henry, or if they were perhaps blessed with the same obliviousness. In that case they would not even know where Henry went each day, except perhaps for the brother who had come to collect him. It was difficult to tell if they regarded her neither suspiciously nor indifferently, but simply not at all.
"They seem to be well-behaved little girls, James Frederick," Mr Croft said all of a sudden.
"Thank you," said the admiral. "Does that mean we may bring them if we visit you? We cannot consider visiting without them."
"Yes, I suppose we could grow used to it." He had after all had to grow used to the number of females in this house as well.
"One does grow used to them indeed. Women are quite ordinary people. I always thought Sophia was the only one, but with all the new sisters I acquired I must allow for more exceptions."
"But we have no nursery," said his father. "They must share with Sophia. Is that possible?"
"With Sophia and me."
Old Mr Croft was not yet reconciled to such an arrangement. He looked doubtful. "We shall not discuss this here, James."
The admiral glanced at the parties present. There would be no help from John or Lady Russell. "I fear I am outnumbered when I comes to opinions on sharing and nobody will support my wishes. Perhaps we should indeed postpone the discussion until I have gathered more proponents around me. Unless you wish to hear my arguments in favour of sharing?"
"We shall not discuss this here," his father repeated.
"Very well, then I only beg you to ask yourself whether you think the Navy fits out ships to provide captains' or admirals' wives with a cabin or even a deck of their own. And you do not know the grand accommodations where I was living at the time of my wedding. Considering that we had to share the only chair, what else do you think we had to share?" he was vexed enough to ask.
"James Frederick, enough."
Two more brothers appeared and the admiral was forced to swing his legs off the sofa to make room for them. He folded the blanket under which he had been lying and appeared to have recovered.
"You are not going to spit again, are you?" asked the nearest brother suspiciously.
"Not until after dinner." He hoped he would not do it at all and he felt well enough to trust that it would not happen. There were greater advantages to feeling well, notably being allowed back into his own room and being allowed to kiss his girls.
Anne and Frederick arrived at the same time as the last brother, which made the party complete save for Sophia. Anne sat by Lady Russell instantly, the gentlemen not having dared to sit too close to her. The respectful distance they had kept was enough of a space for Anne to occupy. "I spoke to my father," she said. "But he admitted that he already knew I was married. I did not ask why he had not written back."
"Sometimes it is best not to," Lady Russell agreed. She was curious, although Anne spoke so calmly that there could not have been many problems. "What else did he say?"
"We attended another of his parties and they behaved as if they had always known. I thought everybody was very civil, so I think it is all settled and accepted. I wore Mama's jewellery."
"Yours now. You will have looked very pretty." Lady Russell knew how prettiness would have made an impression on Sir Walter and Anne's good looks would only have been improved by her happiness at being able to wear her mother's gift, even if nobody else would have noticed it.
"Frederick thought so. And he looked very handsome himself."
"A doubly good impression. Did he not…" She did not know how to ask. Perhaps she should not even be having such thoughts.
"Take his clothes off?" Anne whispered. "No, of course not."
"It does not appear to be a given in certain circles," Lady Russell muttered. "But I am glad he did not use that to convince your father of how much he loved you. I am not certain the message would have been understood."
"But you understood, did you not?"
"I must not be such an astute judge of character, Anne. Only because you told me. So you think it was all well?"
"Yes," Anne said slowly. "It would have been nicer had he been titled, but he will do. I am more impressed with how he treats me, but such a consideration cannot be important to anyone else."
"It is to me. I am happy to hear he treats you well. I hope he continues to do so." She would almost smile at Captain Wentworth.
Anne did not doubt it. Such changes occurred only in the beginning, she would say. Her opinion of Frederick was rather fixed. He was not behaving well to impress her, but because it was his character. "And what has happened here in the meantime?"
"I made a few calls here and there," Lady Russell said vaguely. "The usual, to find out what is happening with everybody, but there does not seem to be much going on in the neighbourhood other than people falling off kitchen chairs."
"Only here." Anne did not only mean her marriage and the Croft twins, but also Lady Russell's artistic visitor -- about whom she was likely to hear very little.
He was seated on her other side. Perhaps he had been the only one who had dared to sit so close to Lady Russell, although he had left more than enough room for Anne to sit down without being an inconvenience to either. Perhaps, she thought wickedly, she could ask him some questions as well. Making it seem very innocent, she slowly turned towards him. "Are your drawings coming along nicely, Mr Croft?"
He looked startled. "Y-Y-Yes, thank you."
He was not a man who was very generous with information or one who enjoyed boasting of his accomplishments, Anne concluded. "I hope you picked up some good ideas for your new house."
"Yes, thank you."
"Now that somebody made a start with creating a next generation of Crofts who might live there eventually," she said innocently.
"A start?" he inquired. "He tells me there will not be more from him -- and there certainly will not be any from me."
It did not have to be him. "But you have three more brothers. You could not all be alike. I have two sisters, but we do not resemble each other much."
He gave her a very serious look. "In this matter, Mrs Wentworth, we have all been taught the same principles and such teachings will, I believe, overrule any differences in character."
"But the admiral…"He had behaved differently. He had married.
"Inexplicable," said Henry.
"But when two people…" she tried. Two people might end up liking each other. Those principles could not be forbidding their marriage.
"No, no," he said, almost smiling. "You cannot explain it to me if even he could not. You may depend on my having asked."
"Quite often there is no proper answer to be obtained from him." Anne supposed she was telling his own brother nothing new. "Are you also going to draw the interior of this house?"
Henry looked a little cautious. "An ostentatious staircase would look out of place in a smaller house."
Anne was amused. "Is our main staircase ostentatious?"
After dinner Frederick asked Anne to play some music. There were no objections to this from anybody, although when he turned Anne's pages he noticed his sister having a greater appreciation for her husband than for the music. Since they had never had much interest in music that was not surprising, but he had always suspected them of having better manners than to be so engrossed in each other in the back of the room. He tried to glare at them without alerting any of the Crofts, but they were oblivious. Fortunately the distraction was removed when Sophia got up and left the room.
Anne played only two pieces so as not to tire her arm. Frederick did not dare to be as affectionate in company as his sister, so he settled for rubbing her leg when she was finished. "Thank you. I enjoyed that."
"I had missed playing. Now I could even play cards if anyone wanted me to. Only if you sat next to me, though." She cared very little for the games and more for the company.
"Doing this?" He rubbed her leg again.
Her eyes widened. "I think you must keep your hands above the table. We might be suspected of cheating with secret signs otherwise. Perhaps you were lucky that I played from memory, because you turned the page too late once and if I had really needed it you might also have been suspected of doing something under the table."
"I was distracted by people doing something similar in the back of the room. They were not even doing it under the table."
Anne glanced over the instrument at the admiral, who was the only one she could suspect of doing anything at all, being the only other married man. "Well, there is no table there," she murmured. There was no Sophia either. "I suppose you did mean Sophia and not Lady Russell?"
"Lady Russell is not seated by anyone." The most she could have received were affectionate looks, but he had not paid attention to those.
"Sophia is not seated anywhere."
"No, she left."
Lady Russell had indeed not been engaging in handholding and whispering, but accidentally being seated in Sir Walter's favourite chair, she had a good view of the mirror and she could not only see herself, but also what was happening behind her. She was the only woman in the room who had not been treated affectionately while Anne had been playing. Even Anne herself had received some attention. She did not know what to feel.
Anne herself knew exactly what to feel. She was very happy.
While one of the brothers played a few tunes, the admiral moved closer to Lady Russell. "You walked?"
"I did," she replied, knowing he must be thinking of the dreadful weather. There was indeed no walking back like this. She did not think she would be allowed to walk back unescorted, but who would volunteer? And if someone volunteered, would he like to walk back to the Hall?
Admiral Croft was not thinking of letting her walk at all. "Unless you take pity on the coachman and the horses, madam, you could be taken home dryly."
"I first assumed you intended for someone to accompany me who could then not leave, but I see you would think it equally amusing if I remained here." The man could not mind some honesty.
"Such an opinion of yourself!" he laughed.
"You think only of amusement."
"I leave the choice with you. Ask me when you need a room or a carriage. Sophia or Anne could probably lend you the necessary things if you choose to stay."
Although she was still afraid of him, Lady Russell realised she was not being very kind. "I appreciate the offer, Admiral. I should not suspect you of ulterior motives so quickly." She walked to the window and looked out. A good soul would not insist in getting a coachman and some stable hands soaked. She had always been a good soul.
But she was not sure what to think of Admiral Croft. Mrs Croft thought highly of him and his morals -- despite the cuddling she had seen in the mirror he must generally be well-behaved -- but not of his tongue. She turned and saw him say something to Anne, who giggled. This made her suspicious again.
"Why did you giggle?" she asked when Anne joined her.
"Because he asked me to rephrase the offer in less suspicious terms. The weather is dreadful. I think you should stay."
Posted on Friday, 1 December 2006
"I have no bell," she informed him. Since she had come to live so near she had never stayed at the Hall and what with the many guests it made sense that she should be put in a never-used room that had no bell, but it was very inconvenient for a lady who could not undress herself. "I need a maid. And I need a nightgown."
Anne had kindly supplied her with one, but when Lady Russell had unfolded it, it looked far too small. One could not reach the age of eight-and-forty without becoming a little bigger than Anne, she had thought defensively. Noting that a garment was too small was never pleasant for a woman who did not think she was terribly large.
Henry Croft merely stared, as if he did not understand that it was in fact a request to get her what she required.
"Mr Croft, would you be so kind?" she had to ask. To this he nodded uncertainly and she returned to her room.
After a few minutes only, there was a knock. She went to open the door when nobody came in and instead of the expected maid, she found Mr Croft holding out a folded item of clothing -- two items, in fact. "Is the maid coming?" she wondered. It was all useless without a maid.
"Maid?" he asked, as if she ought to know that he would never approach one because they were also female.
She gave him an exasperated look. It was only logical that she would need a maid. "I asked you to send me a maid for a reason. I cannot undress myself."
That seemed to amaze him and his uncertainly turned into incredulity. "Why not? How dare you think me useless!"
Such a comment made her speechless, not in the least because he might have a tiny point that she had never considered before -- and she was not aware that she had ever called him useless to his face. It was not until after a few moments that she could speak again. He must be more perceptive than she had assumed. "I take it you know nothing about female underclothing."
"Thankfully not," he replied. "I did not even know it existed."
Lady Russell looked horrified. "You must be trying to provoke me. I do not mean to scandalise you, but I need a maid, as a good part of it fastens in the back, where I cannot reach."
"Why? That is wholly impractical."
"Such an observation does not help me undress," she said, almost snapping.
"If you cannot, you must sleep in your clothes," Henry said with a shrug. He was not going to get a maid for something as silly as this. He could truly not imagine that underclothing was made in such a way as to make it impossible for the wearer to remove on her own.
"I cannot." She tapped something hard under her gown. "This is highly uncomfortable. I cannot lie down in it."
"Why not?"
"Because its purpose is to keep a woman upright!" If she ever managed to lie down, she would not be able to turn over. She would rather have her stays removed before going to bed.
Henry sighed. "I shall never understand women and fortunately I have no desire to do so. Here, take this." He held out the clothes.
She took them and examined them. There was seemingly no end to his strangeness. "Mr Croft, these look like trousers and a shirt, not a nightgown."
He gave her an infuriatingly calm look. "I told you I do not wear nightgowns and I had received the impression that you do not approve of wearing nothing at all."
She gripped the doorpost to remain steady. That image was one she would rather not recall. "And as such you want me to wear trousers? That is as good as nothing."
"As good as nothing? So you will faint again because I am wearing as good as nothing?" He took a step back, looking anxious. "I do not care what you will wear. I shall not be there to see it. In case you wish to be covered up, I can only provide you with this."
His logic was astounding as usual. Lady Russell stared at the pair of trousers in her hands and wished to scream.
Admiral Croft had been banned from his room, but he had decided he was recovered enough to return and Sophia had not opposed him. His reunion with all of his girls rendered him almost unbearably cheerful. "Should I keep watch?" he asked with a view to Lady Russell's staying in the house.
"No, darling," Sophia said most emphatically. "There is no need. I am allowing you back in the room on the condition that you stay in bed while you are here."
"I am not concerned for the woman's virtue. It is Henry's I am worried about."
"You are a man. Why is it so difficult to get you into bed and keep you there?" she complained.
Henry was missing from the breakfast table, but that had become such a regular occurrence that everyone assumed he had already gone to Kellynch Lodge in spite of the rain. It surprised the family greatly when he appeared together with his father. Apparently the rain had deterred even Henry from venturing out.
Only Sophia and Lady Russell never appeared, but Sophia had the excuse of having to feed her daughters.
Lady Russell was troubled by having to get rid of trousers and a shirt that she did not want to be found in her room. She imagined the gossip spreading through the village if a maid found such masculine items in the room. Everybody knew her here and it would be highly interesting to speculate about what she might have done with the owner of the clothes.
It would be easier to get rid of the clothes if they had not belonged to someone who might want them back. Her conscience forbade setting fire to them or throwing them out of the window, yet not having brought a trunk she had no idea where to hide them or how to carry them out unseen.
She muttered something about useless men who did not think of such things and she was quite ready to toss the clothes out of the window anyhow when Anne appeared. Guiltily she shoved them under the pillow.
"You did not come to breakfast," Anne said in concern. She had finished quickly herself because she had not felt particularly hungry. "Are you unwell?"
She must present a strange picture, sitting on her bed glaring, but completely dressed and ostensibly ready to leave. "No, I am fine."
"Are you not hungry?"
"I was very hungry, but something prevented me from leaving."
"Is there any way I could help?"
"I need to get rid of these." She pulled the trousers and the shirt from under the pillow and spread them out on the bed. Anne's concern was as always persuasive. "And I do not know how."
Anne stared.
"Anne, please. Can you think of how they might be taken out of the room rather than of how they came in?"
"I was not yet thinking," Anne defended herself. "Are they Mr Croft's?"
"As there are preciously few gentlemen in the house who are not Mr Croft, that is very likely."
"True. But you know which one I mean. Perhaps I should send him here so you and he can sort it out without involving me?" She did not want to know everybody's secrets if they would rather not let her know.
"He is quite useless at sorting things out, Anne," Lady Russell said with a sigh. "Were I to involve him again, I fear what will happen. I asked him something last night, a simple request, but dear me, the trouble it got me in is unbelievable. There is no bell in this room and so I looked out of the room to see if anybody might be of assistance. I saw him and asked him to send me a maid and a nightgown. Yes, you gave me one, but we do not have the same figure."
"Oh." Anne had not thought of that.
"Besides, even if it did fit me, I should first have to be helped out of my underclothing."
"Oh. You should have asked for me."
"I thought that a simple request for a maid would suffice," Lady Russell said morosely. "But it was not to be. I asked for a maid and a nightgown and what does he bring me?"
"Neither." That was very clear.
"Trousers and a shirt."
"Oh." Anne pressed her hand to her mouth. She wanted to laugh. What would a woman do with trousers and a shirt? "How helpful."
"To summarise a very long and tedious story, I now have trousers and a shirt to get rid of."
Anne picked them up and folded them carefully. "I shall lay them in his room. Why do you not hurry down to breakfast before they take everything away?"
Lady Russell was amazed at the simplicity of the solution.
Anne knocked on Henry Croft's door. She wondered if he had come back upstairs yet, but after a few seconds the door was opened. "These, I believe, are yours," she said, holding out the clothes.
"Yes, thank you." He took them from her without saying anything else.
She gave him a curious look, but it was clear he was neither going to give an excuse nor an explanation. He calmly accepted whatever she might be thinking, if he considered or cared about that at all. After all the emphasis Lady Russell had laid on not being able to undress herself, it might be interesting to wonder who had assisted her, although Anne suppressed this fleeting question.
After seeing to this errand she returned to the breakfast room. "Done," she whispered to Lady Russell, who had not been too late to eat. "He said thank you. And nothing else."
"Good." She would not have wanted him to say too much. "Thank you, Anne. You are the only one I could confide in."
Anne looked puzzled. She had been told nothing. She had merely been given clothes to return to somebody. "But that was not confiding."
"It was as close to that as possible. I have too much to think about. And I should appreciate it very much if you did not breathe a word of this to the admiral."
"If you do not want him to hear anything, you should keep Sophia out of it as well," Anne advised her. "I discovered when I was still trying to keep things from them that they tell each other everything. Either tell neither or take it in stride. But they mean well. Shall I distract their attention by telling them something?"
"Which intriguing secret could you have?" They would not be distracted by anything that was less scandalous than what they imagined about her.
"Well, Frederick thinks I am expecting."
Lady Russell's eyes widened. "Expecting? And you speak of it so casually!"
"I do not know if it is so. I could ask Sophia some questions. She will tell the admiral, who will then concentrate on asking or teasing us about it. Do you not think he will? He will forget you entirely."
"Anne, I think you speak of this far too casually. I cannot let you do that."
Anne did not think there was much harm in the scheme. "It might well be so. Frederick says --"
"Anne, you cannot toy with people's expectations. They would be happy for you and then it might all turn out to be untrue. Or it might go wrong. How would you feel then? Whatever Frederick thinks is something he should keep to himself for a month or three until the greatest danger has passed."
"I see your point," Anne said regretfully when she realised she was now among people who might indeed feel happy for her. "But I really do not know if he can keep silent, as he strikes me as quite excited by the prospect."
"I will be very happy for you if it is truly so," Lady Russell said gravely. "But having had it go wrong in the first few weeks myself a few times I cannot feel comfortable until a certain amount of time has passed."
"Really?" Anne breathed. "I never knew. I am so sorry."
It was too long ago to distress her. "And how far does Frederick think you are along?"
"A few days less than we have been married?" Anne guessed. She had stopped counting how many days they had been wed. It was not many, however.
"A week or so! Dear me, tell the boy to calm down!" She shook her head, torn as she was between thinking him exasperating and endearing. "I see you were right about doubting his ability to keep silent for three months. He strikes me as a trifle…"
"Obsessed, yes, I told him so."
"Does he ever doubt himself? He does not appear to be much changed in that regard. Rash, eager and confident. He will be rich and successful. He will have a child. I hope, my dear, that this does not mean you have to suffer his rash and eager attentions all day long until you have given him what he seems to crave."
"Not all day long," Anne assured her demurely. "I am allowed breaks to talk to you."
Lady Russell gasped.
"That was in jest."
"Anne," said a man.
Anne was just under the table to pick up a spoon she had dropped and she tried to surface as quickly as possible to see who was addressing her. Henry Croft and she eyed each other in great surprise. She did not know why he would speak to her and he appeared not to know he had been speaking to her, or even that she had been under the table.
Lady Russell looked mortified. "The other Anne," she said and pushed her chair back hurriedly to join him by the door.
Anne, still clutching the spoon, stared at them. He called Lady Russell Anne. From Lady Russell's furtive glances at her she deduced that the lady was not very comfortable with her knowing that. Considering the matter, however, Anne did not see why it should be any cause for concern. Anne was Lady Russell's name. Her father would have used it if he had not liked saying Lady so much. Ordinary people might well use Anne to address her. Where was the problem? Henry had not used any terms of endearment.
She would leave them alone, though, and she made her way towards the door without looking at them. As she passed them, she gave Lady Russell a slight pat on the arm. It was all fine. Everyone seemed to be on their way to acquire friends, husbands, children and whatever else they liked.
Four little hands reached out and banged. Something within Sophia stirred violently at the sound. It took her by surprise. Something inside her had banged quite as strongly as the girls had hit the keys, but although Catherine and Margaret were still continuing, there was no more movement inside. Sophia sat in a daze for a while. Then she screamed. "James! James! James!"
It took him a few minutes to reach her. Anne and Frederick had come to her in the meantime, but she had continued to scream for James and the twins had continued to play, and Anne and Frederick had simply stared. "Good grief, Sophia!" James cried. "Do you call that singing? Whatever is the matter?"
Frederick could not stand the onslaught on his ears anymore and gently removed both little girls. Sophia looked too overcome to realise they had inherited the musical talent of their parents.
"Sophia?" James repeated. His wife was not inclined towards theatrical behaviour and he did not know how to interpret her rather dramatic screaming and wild look.
She rested a hand on her stomach and breathed heavily. "There is someone in there. It kicked me."
The entire family assembled around the piano to observe her stomach, although the two little girls were trying to wriggle out of the arms of their aunt and uncle to get back to those pretty black and white things that made such a lovely noise.
"It kicked you," James repeated. "From the inside?" He would not put it past his two little angels to kick Mama from the outside.
"Yes, the moment the girls began to play it kicked me."
"Are you sure that was not a secretly musical vein in your body protesting against the dreadful racket?" Frederick wondered.
"It felt like a baby." Sophia still looked confused. Her twins could barely sit up by themselves. The next one could not possibly be on its way already.
Anne handed Catherine to her father and then sat down on the stool, nudging Sophia aside a little. She covered Sophia's stomach with both hands. She now knew what kicking babies felt like. "Play like the twins," she ordered when she felt nothing. Perhaps it would only become active when it heard bad music.
Sophia played even louder. She gasped when she felt it again, a sharp kick of appreciation or protest.
Anne smiled. "It feels very much like a baby to me, Sophia. It is exactly like what I feel all day."
"It is not fair of you to have another!" Frederick cried. "We were almost catching up!"
"But…" Sophia examined herself. "When! James, when did you do this to me?"
Anne's new knowledge, as well as their just having returned from admiring Edward and Amelia's little boy, made her delighted and suspicious towards anybody else with vague complaints. She saw the former Lady Russell's persistent indigestion in a different light now and could not refrain from investigating the matter a little more when the other Anne complained of not sleeping. "Do you share a room with Henry at night?"
Her godmother looked appalled that she could even ask. "Of course not."
"Never?" Anne pressed. She would not like to see her theory evaporate so quickly, even if the lady in question was rather old.
"Never," Mrs Henry Croft said most emphatically. "Anne, we are far too old for that sort of thing."
Anne was fairly sure that was a lie, but it would not do to display a greater interest in the matter, or even to point out that Lady Russell as a wealthy widow could only have married again out of some degree of affection. "Then it must not be his fault that you cannot sleep because he is snoring," she murmured.
She saw Henry in his study. "Your wife is not sleeping well, she says."
"Oh," said Henry guardedly. "Really?"
"Are you not snoring or something of that nature? Perhaps you should try different rooms." Anne made an effort to look very helpful. She told herself she had her friend's wellbeing in mind.
"We never share," he replied.
Anne was out of breath too quickly to run through the house for a quick inspection, but fortunately her friend had to speak to the cook and Henry would not venture out of the study, so she could make a trip upstairs. She was a bad woman for not believing them and she was not even certain why she did not, but when she came to the apartments of the mistress of the house she saw she had been correct. "Liars!" she said under her breath and quickly returned downstairs. "Liars!"
She was acutely aware that this proved only that they were liars and not that Mrs Croft's indigestion was in fact not indigestion at all.
Anne consulted Sophia when she came home. "If you had not proved to me that a sensible woman can be ignorant of her condition, I should never have thought of it, but…" She bit her lip.
"I thought I had simply not yet recovered. Apparently James never gave me the chance." Clearly she did not resent him for that at all, because she smiled. "He is lucky that the girls were December babies and that we shall not have three born in the same year. That would truly make him look beastly."
"Indeed, but what I was saying…" Anne was still hesitant. "I now suspect the other Anne's stomach rumblings. Is that wicked of me?"
"Very wicked. I should think her beyond it. She is far older than I am!"
"Although they both deny it, they do share a room." It really made more sense for them to deny it than to admit it given their characters, which made a denial meaningless to Anne.
Sophia's expression was a mixture of amazement and amusement. "Anne, I cannot believe you found that out."
"I mentioned snoring as a possible reason for her sleeping problems and they both separately denied sharing, so I went to have a look in secret."
"Anne! That is utterly shameless of you."
"They share and she has never had stomach problems or insomnia before. I cannot suggest it might be other things because she would faint. If even you screamed when you made the discovery…"
"Now you are making me wish it is truly so, to see how they would explain such an immaculate conception."