At Kellynch Lodge, with Lady Russell, Anne has to fall into a new, or
rather an old set of interests, in which the house her father has
taken in Camden Place, Bath, and the disagreeable fact that Mrs. Clay,
the daughter of Sir Walter Elliott’s agent, and a humble companion of
Elizabeth, is still on a visit there, figure prominently; while Anne’s
thoughts are still hovering, in spite of herself, about Lyme and her
friends there.
Elizabeth Elliott’s last letter to Kellynch Lodge has communicated
an unexpected piece of news of some interest. There has been a
reconciliation between the head of the house and his heir. Mr. Elliot
is in Bath, and has called more than once or twice in Camden Place. If
Elizabeth and her father are right, he is now as anxious to renew and
proclaim the connexion as he had formerly been to treat it with scorn.
A degree of unlooked-for warmth in the welcome home which Anne receives
does her good, but Jane Austen is careful to mention that Anne’s
father and sister are glad to see her for the sake of showing her the
house and furniture. Besides, they are unwontedly happy in finding
themselves people of consequence in Bath, and in receiving once more
the attentions of Mr. Elliot. He is now everything and without a fault
in his cousins’ eyes. Even the old offence of his marriage--when
Sir Walter had destined him for Elizabeth, and Elizabeth had fully
acquiesced in the arrangement--has been partly smoothed away. A friend
of Mr. Elliot’s, a Colonel Wallis, whom Mr. Elliot has introduced to
Sir Walter, mentions in confidence various particulars which soften the
delinquency. The late Mrs. Elliot had not been a woman of family, but
she had been a very fine woman, with a large fortune, excessively in
love with her husband.
Anne is rendered very uneasy by Mrs. Clay’s protracted stay in Camden
Place, and by the increasing influence she is gaining over her host
as well as over his eldest daughter. That Mrs. Clay cherishes designs
of becoming Lady Elliot, opposed as the match might seem to Sir
Walter’s vanity and conceit, Anne does not doubt, and she begins to
fear more and more that Mrs. Clay’s designs may prove successful. How
relentlessly Anne is made to gauge her father’s character is shown
by the impetus given to her fears, in the course of a conversation
with him. He has just complimented Anne on her greater clearness and
freshness of complexion, and attributed the improvement to Gowland’s
Lotion. On her saying she uses no lotion, he expresses his surprise.
She cannot do better than she is doing, otherwise he would recommend
Gowland--the constant use of Gowland during the spring. Mrs. Clay has
been using it at his recommendation, and Anne can see what it has done
for her; Anne can see how it has carried away her freckles.
The most alarming symptom of all is, that it does not appear to Anne
Mrs. Clay’s freckles are lessened.
But there is no use in warning Elizabeth, without whose countenance
Mrs. Clay could not stay on in Camden Place. Mrs. Clay’s flattery
infatuates Elizabeth, and in any circumstances she would have been
incapable of accepting beforehand a suggestion so injurious and
disagreeable to her, especially if it came from her sister Anne.
Lady Russell is quite won by Mr. Elliot, whose steadiness of character
and coolness of judgment, in addition to what she believes to be his
high principles and warmth of heart, unite all the recommendations
which she prizes most highly. She is delighted to find that his
previous marriage--suspected to have been an unhappy one--has not
soured him, or prevented him from thinking of another wife--not in the
person of Elizabeth, but in that of Anne Elliot, as is soon plain to
Lady Russell. She rejoices to believe that Anne is at last done justice
to, in becoming the object of Mr. Elliot’s constant presence in Camden
Place. Anne, in her turn, allows herself to be more and more pleased
with her cousin’s good qualities and friendship, although she still
retains doubts of the consistency of his sentiments and behaviour, and
of the motives which actuate him.