Sign Up
If you would like to receive occasional updates about readings, talks, writing workshops, and other Jane Austen Addict news, please enter your email address here:
Tweeting Austen
Persuasion
Jane Austen's PERSUASION, Twitter Version:
In response to many requests from my fellow tweeters and Facebook friends, here is the complete set of tweets of my favorite Austen novel, PERSUASION, complete with faux-commercial breaks and teasers.
What began as a fun experiment turned into an addiction of its own. Excerpting and summarizing the substance and essence of each chapter in 140-character bits is quite a challenge. Especially if you want to infuse humor and some 21st-century lingo. After all, it's a synthesis of 21st century and 19th century. Something I love to do.
And shouldn't all social networking platforms be in the service of Austen?
Many thanks to Molland's, sister site of Austenblog, for its searchable etexts of Austen's works, from which I was able to copy and work on sections of the texts. Both sites are treasures.
Click here to follow me on Twitter.
CHAPTER 1:
Sir Walter Elliot, baronet, engages in 19th cent. Wikipedi-ing: Rereads and edits entry on the Elliots in The Baronetage.
Sir Walter drowning in debt and vanity. 911s agent Mr. Shepard and friend Lady Russell for advice. On the down low.
CHAPTER 2:
Lady R and Anne, Sir W's daughter, make repay plan. Sir W and eldest daughter Elizabeth prefer to dine and dash. To Bath.
Anne hates Bath. But must cohab with her peeps. Family crib, Kellynch Hall, will be rented out. Also on the DL.
CHAPTER 3:
Shepherd wants Sir W to rent Kellynch to Admiral Croft. Sir W offended at very idea of a mere sailor occupying his home.
CHAPTER 4:
Anne discomposed for another reason entirely. Admiral Croft is the bro in law of one Capt. Wentworth. Fans self. Sighs.
7 years ago Anne and Capt. Wentworth were engaged. He had no $, so Sir W & Lady R (almost a mother to Anne) said no way.
Anne yielded to her fam. And never got over it. Nor did Capt. Wentworth. Who took off, made a bundle, and never called.
CHAPTER 5:
Anne delays joining the fam in Bath because she's summoned to Uppercross by hypochondriac married sister Mary. What fun!
CHAPTER 6:
Escaping to Uppercross does not = escaping a meet w/Anne's ex, as the Musgroves (Mary's in-laws) are determined to meet him
CHAPTER 7:
Anne steels herself for the inevitable reunion w/Capt. Wentworth: a dinner party at the Musgroves. Fate intervenes.
Mary's eldest boy dislocates collarbone day of the fateful dinner. Anne, not Mary, is happy to stay home--& dodge bullet.
Anne figures if Capt W wanted to see her he would have reconnected long ago when he made his fortune. But he never had.
Next morning Capt W stops by to pay respects. No one knows he and Anne were once engaged. Awkward beyond words.
Capt W is as gorgeous as ever. But, says he, Anne is "so altered he should not have known [her] again.'" Ouch, dude.
He has not forgiven Anne. And is ready to fall in love with either of the Miss Musgroves; it matters not which one.
CHAPTER 8:
Anne often sees Capt W at the Musgroves, but they are "worse than strangers, for they could never become acquainted." Sigh.
Capt W declares naval ships unfit for the comfort of ladies, while his sister, Mrs. Croft, declares him an idiot. Politely.
Anne's eyes fill with tears as she watches Capt W dance with the other ladies, while to her he is frosty freeze.
CHAPTER 9:
It is Louisa Musgrove whom Capt W loves. No, it is Henrietta. Such is the horserace that Anne must watch.
One morning Anne & Capt W find themselves almost alone—only the little injured boy is there. Capt W as discomposed as Anne.
Then Charles Hayter, Henrietta's jealous BF comes in. So does the little boy's brother, who clings to Anne's back.
Hayter commands the boy to leave Anne alone, but it is Capt W who actually removes the boy from Anne and carries him away.
Capt W's kindness & proximity to her person require "a long application of solitude and reflection" before Anne can chill.
CHAPTER 10:
Anne believes Capt W in love with neither Louisa nor Henrietta and oblivious to the jealousies & rivalries of all.
Then, on a long walk, she has occasion to hear, unseen, Capt W & Louisa together. And what she hears is a game-changer.
Anne hears Louisa telling Capt W that Anne refused Charles (Mary's hubby's) hand years ago, persuaded to do so by Lady R.
Anne also hears Capt W praising Louisa for being unpersuadable. And when Henrietta returns with smiling BF, all is clear.
"Everything now marked out Louisa for Captain Wentworth; nothing could be plainer." The era of Anne is over.
Admiral & Mrs. Croft happen by in their gig, and Capt W makes sure Anne rides w/them; his hands place her in the carriage.
"she owed it to his perception of her fatigue...He could not forgive her, but he could not be unfeeling."
"it was a proof of his own warm and amiable heart," and she knows not whether it gives her more pleasure or pain.
Admiral & Mrs. Croft entertain Anne with speculations as to whom Capt W will marry. Mrs. C seems unimpressed w/ the girls.
....END OF CHAPTER 10. Next up: Anne, Mary, Charles, Captain Wentworth, Louisa, and Henrietta go on a fateful journey to Lyme.
CHAPTER 11:
Anne, Capt W, Mary, Charles, Louisa, & Henrietta take a fateful trip to Lyme to visit Capt W's dear friend Capt Harville.
So welcoming are the Harvilles to the whole party that Anne cannot help but think, "These would have been all my friends."
Staying with the Harvilles is Capt. Benwick, who is mourning the loss of his dead fiancée, sister of Capt. Harville.
Anne befriends Capt. Benwick by talking to him of his other great love, poetry. She relates to his sense of loss.
And yet, she thinks, "[Benwick] is younger than I am; …He will rally again, and be happy with another."
END OF CHAPTER 11. Next up: A succession of life-changing events.
CHAPTER 12:
At the seaside, Anne notices a gentleman admiring her. & Capt W noticing, too. Nothing like a little jealousy to get their attention.
Turns out the man checking out Anne is her cousin, the heir to the Elliot estate and very much on the outs with Sir Walter
Yes, cousins could flirt and even marry. Not that Anne gives any of that a thought. Especially after what happens next...
Anne and friends descend the steep steps of the Cobb, but Louisa insists on being jumped down them by Capt. W.
"In.. their walks, he had had to jump her from the stiles; the sensation was delightful to her." Sexual innuendo, anyone?
Capt W thinks the jump too steep, but Louisa is determined. She jumps; he misses—she falls lifeless to the ground. OMG.
Everyone freaks. Benwick running to get surgeon, Henrietta fainting, Mary hysterical. Anne is the only clear-headed one.
Louisa is carried to the Harvilles, where she must stay until—if—she awakens. Capt W wants Anne to stay and nurse her.
Mary jealous (surprise) at idea of Anne staying instead of her, so Anne returns to Uppercross with Capt W & Henrietta.
Soon as Capt W (gulp) breaks the news to Mr. & Mrs. Musgrove, he leaves Anne and Henrietta and rides back to Lyme. Buh-bye.
Next up: Chapter 13, in which Anne takes her bittersweet leave of Uppercross.
CHAPTER 13:
The news from Lyme: Louisa's "intervals of sense and consciousness… believed to be stronger."
To Anne "There could not be a doubt, to her mind there was none, of what would follow her recovery."
Anne leaves Uppercross with a sigh. "Scenes had passed...which made it precious… pain, once severe, but now softened."
There had been "some breathings of friendship and reconciliation, which could never be looked for again..." Hanky, please.
CHAPTER 14:
Charles Musgrove tells Anne that Capt Benwick has been praising her & will visit soon. Mary, ever jealous, denies it.
Anne is flattered, but Benwick never does show up. Meanwhile, " Louisa was now recovering apace."
Anne and Lady Russell arrive in Bath, Anne to live with her father and Elizabeth (oh joy); Lady Russell for the season.
The 1st thing Anne learns is that Mr. Elliot, her admirer from Lyme, has been attempting a reconciliation with her father.
CHAPTER 15:
Anne, "anticipating an imprisonment of many months," must now endure Sir Walter's & Elizabeth's company. And Mrs. Clay.
Mrs. Clay, Elizabeth's friend, and sycophant extraordinaire, clearly has her sights on being the next Lady Elliot.
So does Elizabeth, but as Lady to Mr. Elliot, heir-presumptive of the Elliot family. He's been sucking up to Sir Walter.
Mr. Elliot is perfectly charming. But why, Anne wonders, is he suddenly so interested in her family? Is it Elizabeth?
CHAPTER 16:
Sir Walter wonders why Anne's skin looks "clearer, fresher." Gowland's Lotion? Botox? Facelift? No, wait. This is 1815.
Superficiality Central: Sir W & Elizabeth agog over the arrival of their noble cousins, Lady Dalrymple & her daughter.
Anne finds Lady D and her spawn yawn-worthy at best—embarrassed by her fam's bowing & scraping.
Anne a bit suspicious of the ever-smooth Mr. Elliot. She is, as usual, alone in her feelings.
CHAPTER 17:
Anne renews a friendship with Mrs. Smith, an old schoolfellow who had been kind to 14-yr-old Anne after her mother died.
Mrs. Smith is now a poor sickly widow, and Anne marvels at her cheerfulness in such a dismal situation.
"Here," thought Anne, "was that elasticity of mind, that disposition to be comforted…It was the choicest gift of Heaven."
Sir Walter disapproves of Anne's friend. "And what is her attraction?" says he. "That she is old and sickly." Helluva guy.
Mr. Elliot, however, praises Anne for her kindness towards her friend. Lady Russell believes that he is in love with Anne.
Anne flattered but just not that into Mr. Elliot. Besides, her heart belongs to another. Even if his belongs to Louisa.
CHAPTER 18:
Breaking news: Louisa is to marry Capt. Benwick, not Capt. Wentworth! Louisa and Benwick?? WTF? Fetch my smelling salts!
Anne refrains from breaking into song while hoping that Capt W & Capt B have not 86'd their friendship over Louisa.
Admiral Croft provides Anne w/status update on Capt W: He does not appear to be heartbroken at all. (Smile.)
CHAPTER 19:
And then Anne runs into the man himself: "It was agitation, pain, pleasure, a something between delight and misery."
Capt W is somewhat self-conscious with Anne, perhaps even embarassed. Please sir, may I have some more? But then…
…Mr. Elliot whisks Anne away, leaving Capt W to hear the gossips of Bath yammering that Anne & Mr. Elliot are an item.
If only Anne could see Capt W again, but she is neither free to call nor able to tweet. Perhaps he will be at a concert…
CHAPTER 20:
Capt W arrives—and Anne is so friendly that he tells her his opinion of Benwick and Louisa's engagement. Dish it, dude.
Aside from Benwick's superiority of mind to Louisa, says Capt W, Benwick's fiancée had been an extraordinary woman.
"A man does not recover from such a devotion of the heart to such a woman. He ought not; he does not," says he.
Anne is "struck, gratified, confused, and beginning to breathe very quick, and feel an hundred things in a moment."
Lady Dalrymple & her spawn arrive at the concert, and Anne is separated from Capt W as she and her party take their seats.
All Anne can think of are Capt W's words, "his half averted eyes and more than half expressive glance." (Hmm...)
"All declared that he had a heart returning to her at least; that anger, resentment, avoidance, were no more…"
It seems all his coldness has been "succeeded, not merely by friendship and regard, but by the tenderness of the past."
"She could not contemplate the change as implying less. He must love her." (Grabs fan, swoons on fainting couch.)
Mr. Elliot tantalizes Anne with cryptic statements of how he had heard praise of her for years before they met.
Mr. Elliot won't reveal his source, who "had inspired him with the highest idea of her merit." Man is a flattery machine.
"Anne…wondered, and questioned him eagerly; but in vain. He delighted in being asked, but he would not tell." Sneaky...
When last we left Anne sitting with her amorous cousin (what can I say, it's a nineteenth-century thing), Mr. Elliot, at the concert, he had momentarily distracted Anne from her joyful realization that finally, Captain Wentworth's heart seems to be returning to her. But Mr. Elliot is playing the flattery game...
CHAPTER 20 CONTINUES:
"The name of Anne Elliot...has long had an interesting sound to me." Says the spider to the fly.
"And, if I dared," says he, "I would breathe my wishes that the name might never change." Put a cork in it, Mr. Elliot.
Anne has no wish to drink the KoolAid. She only wants THE ONE. But how to escape the suffocating circle of her party?
Finally Anne speaks with Capt W, who is once again reserved. No sooner does he warm up when Mr. Elliot barges in. Grrrr!
Result: Capt W says he's outta there. "Is not this song worth staying for?" says Anne, suddenly realizing he's jealous.
"No!" says he, "there is nothing worth my staying for." And with that he's gone. Ouch. The man is definitely green-eyed.
Jealous! "For a moment the gratification was exquisite." And yet...without text or tweet, "How was the truth to reach him?"
CHAPTER 21:
Mrs. Smith tells Anne that everyone thinks Anne will marry Mr. Elliot, & she hopes Anne will influence him on her behalf.
Mrs. Smith encourages Anne to marry Mr. Elliot, but when Anne says no way, Mrs. Smith sings a different tune.
It seems that Mrs. Smith and her late husband were close with Mr. Elliot, but he abandoned her after Mr. Smith's death.
Mr. Elliot is executor of Mr. Smith's estate, yet refuses to disentangle Mrs. Smith's desperate financial affairs. Dog.
Mr. Elliot is "a cold-blooded being," says she. (Hello, weren't you trying to get Anne to marry him a minute ago??)
Mrs. Smith says that although Mr. Elliot fell in love w/Anne, his 1st motivation to reconcile w/her family was mercenary.
Mr. Elliot fears that Eliz's friend Mrs. Clay will marry Sir Walter. And if she has a son, HE will be the next Sir Walter.
Anne shudders to think that if not for her own pre-engaged heart, she might have been persuaded to marry that duplicitous dog.
Anxious to find out how this triangle of Anne, Captain Wentworth, and Mr. Elliot resolves itself in a Twitter-less, social-networking-devoid world? Stay tuned...
CHAPTER 22:
Anne is now repulsed by the disingenuous Mr. Elliot—how to reveal the truth about him to her fam is the question…
Meanwhile, Mrs. Clay encourages Elizabeth Elliot in her delusions that SHE is Mr. Elliot's object. Dream on, sister.
And the Oscar goes to… Mrs. Clay for pretending to like Mr. Elliot's visits despite his trying to sabotage her.
Anne about to expose Mr. Elliot to Lady R (mind out of gutter, please) when Mary and Charles Musgrove unexpectedly arrive.
"Anne was really glad to see them; and the others were not so sorry but that they could put on a decent air of welcome."
Anne visits Mary & hub at their hotel: They're w/Mr. & Mrs. Musgrove, Henrietta, & Capt H. & then-DRUMROLL: HE arrives.
HE being, of course, Capt. Frederick Wentworth. Clutch the pearls. Tho' convinced he has feelings for her, Anne frets.
She fears "that the same unfortunate persuasion, which had hastened him away from the Concert Room, still governed. "
"Surely," Anne thinks, "if there be constant attachment on each side, our hearts must understand each other ere long."
"We are not boy and girl, to be...misled by every moment's inadvertence, and wantonly playing with our own happiness."
"And yet, a few minutes afterwards," they fall prey "to inadvertencies and misconstructions of the most mischievous kind."
Mary spots Mr. Elliot from a window and makes Anne look—and Anne can feel how Capt W makes all the wrong assumptions.
Anne wins points w/Capt W when Charles proposes skipping the Elliots' boring card party, & Anne wishes she could.
"You have not been long enough in Bath," says Capt W to Anne, "to enjoy the evening parties of the place."
"Oh! no," says Anne. "The usual character of them has nothing for me. I am no card-player."
"You were not formerly, I know," says Capt W. "You did not use to like cards; but time makes many changes."
"'I am not yet so much changed,' cried Anne, and stopped, fearing she hardly knew what misconstruction."
"After waiting a few moments he said... 'It is a period, indeed! Eight years and a half is a period.'"
And then, "the door was thrown open for Sir Walter and Miss Elliot, whose entrance seemed to give a general chill."
"The comfort, the freedom...of the room was over, hushed...to meet the heartless elegance of her father and sister."
Elizabeth issues her party invitation to all, including the formerly snubbed Capt W—he'll look well in her drawing room.
Anne cannot believe that Capt W will accept her sister's invite "as an atonement for all the insolence of the past."
Anne goes home, intent on "harassing herself with the never-ending question": Will Capt W come to the party or not?"
CHAPTER 23:
Next morning: Anne returns to the Musgroves' hotel, where Capt W is busily writing a letter for Capt Harville.
At the other table, Mrs. Musgrove is telling Mrs. Croft about Henrietta's engagment—she's happy it won't be a long one.
Mrs. Croft agrees: "To begin without knowing…there will be the means of marrying, I hold to be very unsafe and unwise."
It is, adds Mrs. Croft, "what I think all parents should prevent as far as they can." Anne sees Capt W's reaction to this.
His "pen ceased to move, his head was raised..and he turned round...to give a look, one quick, conscious look at her."
Coming up in PERSUASION: Do women love longer than men, or are men just as faithful?
"Look here," says Capt Harville to Anne, showing her a miniature painting of Capt Benwick. "You may guess who it is for."
"But," (in a deep tone,) "it was not done for her...do you remember our walking together at Lyme, and grieving for him?"
"This was drawn…in compliance with a promise to my poor sister…and I have now the charge of getting it...set for another!"
"'He undertakes it;' (looking towards Captain Wentworth,) 'he is writing about it now.'"
"And with a quivering lip he wound up the whole by adding, 'Poor Fanny! she would not have forgotten him so soon!'"
"No," replied Anne... "That I can easily believe." Capt. Harville: "It was not in her nature. She doted on him."
"It would not be the nature of any woman who truly loved."
Still to come in PERSUASION: Anne speaks the words that launch the letter that makes 2 centuries of readers believe. In love. & 2nd chances.
This Twitter presentation of PERSUASION is brought to you by Gowland: "For a clearer, fresher way to withstand a baronet's gaze."
CHAPTER 23 CONTINUES:
"We certainly do not forget you as soon as you forget us." (a kind way to say men hv attention-deficit-romance-disorder.)
"We cannot help ourselves. We live at home, quiet, confined, and our feelings prey upon us."
Men have work to occupy their minds, Anne adds. They are "forced on exertion." But not Benwick, says Capt Harville.
Anne: "It must be nature, man's nature, which has done the business for Captain Benwick." Capt. Harville disagrees.
"I will not allow it to be more man's nature than woman's to be inconstant... I believe the reverse," says Capt. Harville.
Men's bodies are stronger, & so are their feelings, says he. That may be, says Anne, "but…ours are the most tender."
Anne thinks men endure much in the world. " It would be hard, indeed...if woman's feelings were to be added to all this."
Which is right about when Capt W drops his pen, and Anne suspects he's been straining to hear her conversation.
Capt Harville & Anne agree that it can never be proved; books point to women's inconstancy, but they were written by men.
And then, Capt Harville puts in one last eloquent plea for his sex, to prove how strongly men love their women and kids.
"If I could explain…all that a man can bear and do, and glories to do, for the sake of these treasures of his existence! "
"I speak, you know, only of such men as have hearts!" pressing his own with emotion." [Don't you love this guy?]
"Oh!" cried Anne eagerly, "I hope I do justice to all that is felt by you, and by those who resemble you."
"God forbid that I should undervalue the warm and faithful feelings of any of my fellow-creatures!"
"I should deserve utter contempt if I dared to suppose that true attachment and constancy were known only by woman."
"All the privilege I claim for my own sex (it is not a very enviable one)...is that of loving longest, when..hope is gone."
This Twitter presentation of PERSUASION has been brought to you by Gowland: "When letting the blinds down is not enough."
CHAPTER 23 CONTINUES:
"You are a good soul," says Captain Harville to Anne affectionately. "There is no quarreling with you." He & Capt W leave.
Anne is baffled by Capt W's manner. " …from him not a word, nor a look! He had passed out of the room without a look!"
And then he's back—forgot his gloves—and crossing to Anne, places a letter before her "with eyes of glowing entreaty."
"Hastily collecting his gloves," he's gone again—"the work of an instant!" Anne's feelings are "almost beyond expression."
"On the contents of that letter depended all which this world could do for her. Anything was possible..."
And so "her eyes devoured the following words: 'I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you...'
"You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever."
"I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago."
"Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you."
Still to come in PERSUASION: More of The Letter. Till then, fans and smelling salts at the ready.
PERSUASION tweets continue: When last we left Anne, she was reading Capt. Wentworth's words in his letter: "I have loved none but you."
"Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath."
"For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes?"
"I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine."
"I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice…"
"…but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature!"
"You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men."
"Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in F. W."--"I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return…."
"A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never."
Next up on PERSUASION, Twitter version: Anne must find a way to send word to Capt W : "a word, a look," but not a text or tweet.
"Such a letter was not to be soon recovered from…Every moment...brought fresh agitation. It was overpowering happiness."
Charles, Mary, & Henrietta arrive. "She began not to understand a word they said, and was obliged to plead indisposition."
Their concern & hovering makes things worse. If only they would let her go home alone so she can run into Capt W…
Anne does run into Capt W—but Charles is with her. How can she manage "a word, a look" on the DL?
Thankfully Charles has to run & asks Capt W to take Anne home—she can barely refrain from doing a happy dance on the spot.
& so Anne & Capt W "exchanged again those feelings and those promises which had once before seemed to secure everything."
Yet those feelings and promises "had been followed by so many, many years of division and estrangement."
"They returned again into the past, more exquisitely happy...in their re-union, than when it had been first projected."
They were now "more tender, more tried, more fixed in a knowledge of each other's character, truth, and attachment."
They could now "indulge in…explanations of what had directly preceded the present moment…"
She was right; jealousy of Mr. Elliot had held him back. "It had been vanquished at last" by her talk w/Captain Harville.
And so " he had seized a sheet of paper, and poured out his feelings….nothing was to be retracted or qualified."
"He persisted in having loved none but her… He never even believed himself to see her equal."
He admits "he had been constant unconsciously, nay unintentionally…he had meant to forget her, and believed it to be done."
"He had imagined himself indifferent, when he had only been angry…he had been unjust to her merits, because he had…suffere[d] from them."
This bit of Regency self-help is brought to you by Jane Austen, "ahead of her time since 1775." Persuasion, Twitter version, continues soon…
"Her character was now fixed on his mind as perfection itself, …the loveliest medium of fortitude and gentleness…"
But "only at Uppercross had he learnt to do her justice, and only at Lyme had he begun to understand himself."
"At Lyme…the passing admiration of Mr. Elliot had…roused him, and the scenes on the Cobb…had fixed her superiority."
Full of "angry pride," he had tried "to attach himself to Louisa Musgrove," but "he had not cared, could not care, for Louisa."
After the accident, he saw "the perfect excellence of the mind with which Louisa's could so ill bear a comparison…"
And he realized "the perfect unrivalled hold" which Anne's mind "possessed over his own."
He could now "distinguish between the steadiness of principle and the obstinacy of self-will…"
He now saw the difference "between the darings of heedlessness and the resolution of a collected mind."
He saw "everything to exalt in his estimation the woman he had lost."
And he "deplore[d] the pride,…the madness of resentment, which had kept him from trying to regain her." About time, dude!
Capt W's "penance had become severe." Even worse, says he, ""I found…that I was considered by Harville an engaged man!"
Realizing that Louisa's family & Louisa might feel the same, Capt W saw that he was "hers in honour if she wished it."
"I had been unguarded…I had been grossly wrong, and must abide the consequences." [Ah, if only we had consequences 2day]
And so Capt W did what any man would do: he fled. "meaning after a while to return...and act as circumstances might require."
Capt W visited his bro, who asked if Anne had changed, "little suspecting," says Capt W, "that to my eye you could never alter."
Anne smiles. "It was too pleasing a blunder" and she felt "it to be the result, not the cause of a revival of his…attachment."
Capt W had remained w/his bro,"lamenting…till at once released from Louisa by the astonishing…intelligence of her engagement."
And so Capt W did what any man would do: he went to the woman he loved. Got jealous. Made assumptions. & nearly quit the field.
But now all is well. Anne arrives home and enjoys "an interval of meditation, serious and grateful." Ah, yes. Regency Xanax.
Later Anne tells Capt W that tho' Lady Russell's advice to her @ age 19 turned out to be wrong, Anne was right to have listened.
"I was…right in being guided by the friend whom you will love better than you do now." Capt W looks at Lady R & says: "Not yet."
Yet he cannot help but wonder: "whether there may not have been one person more my enemy even than that lady? My own self."
He asks if he had proposed again when he returned in 1808 w/a few grand and a posting on a ship, would she have then said yes?
"'Would I!' was…her answer…'Good God!' he cried, '…It is not that I did not think of it, or desire it…but I was…too proud...'"
"This…recollection…ought to make me forgive every one sooner than myself. Six years of…suffering might have been spared."
"I have been used to the gratification of believing myself to earn every blessing that I enjoyed."
"'Like other great men under reverses, he added, with a smile. 'I must endeavour to subdue my mind to my fortune.'"
"I must learn to brook being happier than I deserve."
This Twitter presentation of PERSUASION is brought to you by Jane Austen, "showing us our better guide since 1811."
AND NOW WE COME TO THE END...
CHAPTER 24:
"Sir Walter made no objection" to Anne's engagement, "and Elizabeth did nothing worse than look cold and unconcerned."
Capt W "was no longer nobody. He was now esteemed quite worthy to address the daughter of a foolish, spendthrift baronet."
Besides, Capt W is a handsome man. And we know that looks are almost as important to Sir Walter as rank.
As for Lady Russell, she had no choice but "to admit that she had been pretty completely wrong" about Capt W & Mr. Elliot.
Lady R "found little hardship in attaching herself as a mother to the man who was securing the happiness of her other child."
As for Mary, "if they could but keep Captain Wentworth from being made a baronet, she would not change situations with Anne."
Elizabeth Elliot "had soon the mortification of seeing Mr. Elliot withdraw," thus sinking her "unfounded hopes."
When Mr. Elliot left Bath for London & Mrs. Clay became his mistress, "it was evident how double a game he had been playing, "
Though prevented from being the wife of Sir Walter, who knows whether Mrs. Clay may yet end as the wife of Sir William Elliot.
Sir Walter & Elizabeth are "shocked and mortified" by Mrs. Clay's deception. And sorry to be deprived of her sycophantic charms.
With such a family, Anne has only Lady R and Mrs. Smith to offer as friends to her new husband, who attaches himself to both.
Capt W helps Mrs. Smith recover her husband's West Indies property. And her health even improves.
Mrs. Smith's "spring of felicity was in the glow of her spirits, as her friend Anne's was in the warmth of her heart."
"Anne was tenderness itself, and she had the full worth of it in Captain Wentworth's affection."
This Twitter presentation of PERSUASION has been brought to you by Jane Austen, hastening us to perfect felicity since 1811.