Work Text:
LADY RUSSELL REGRETS?
Lady Russell left Anne in the room her staff had begun to refer to as “Lady Elliot’s Room” when they thought she could not hear, and made her way to her own bed. She had dismissed her maid and her servants when Anne arrived; this was not the first time Anne had appeared at her home unannounced and unattended, but this night was different. It had been very late and Anne had been holding herself differently. Now, in the privacy of her rooms, she was horrified by the little she had seen when she had dressed Anne for bed. It had been a relief when she fell asleep and Lady Russell felt safe to leave her alone.
‘There is nothing to be done,” was all Anne would say initially.
Lady Russell could not believe it. Not at all. Anne had confronted that man years ago about Mrs. Clay. He promised that he would break with her. He promised! When Lady Russell had discovered this was not true, she confronted him concerning that woman. There was no need to keep Mrs. Clay from Walter Elliot; the man was dead and they had inherited!
This was not what she had hoped for Anne. Whatever happened tonight, she would not speak of some of it. All Lady Russell could get out of her was that William had called her barren. Five pregnancies, three children surviving until they were one year of age was not barren. How dare he? If anything, his refusal to call the surgeon that caused their deaths.
Lady Russell could not fall asleep and restlessly paced the room to the chimes of the clock. How could this have happened! He did not deserve the title of gentleman; let alone the title he now possessed. Why could women not inherit! She retracted that thought; Elizabeth would not be much of an improvement, at least as far as Anne was concerned.
Try as she could, there was not a comfortable position to be found in her bed. None.
At least this night Anne was safe. What could she do? She could not think of anything that would work. Anne’s father had been an idiot when it had come to the marriage contract, all because that man had offered to forgo a dowry if certain conditions were met. Her father jumped at that.
She was aware of the problem; she could have objected at the time. He seemed such a gentleman that she did not do so. Now Anne was here. How many times had she flown here to hide from his temper? Now Lady Russell wondered if the death of his first wife was due to her inability to run to someone.
As she looked out the window into the silvery moonlight making the garden look eerie, as it should this night. She realized she would have no rest as she looked out at the landscape. The bonfires for All Hallows Eve were out and the countryside was quiet; there was nothing to stop her from sitting in her garden.
The garden was enclosed with a bench close to the house; it would be safe. It would be cold under the gnarled old apple tree, so she bundled herself up against the elements.
As she moved down the stairs, she continued to think of Anne’s position. She could not divorce nor did she have the money to live separately from William. It was very unlikely such a man would make a settlement and let her go; such a disappointment.
Opening the library doors, she moved through the shadows. She settled herself down on the willow bench and looked up at the house. She could see her breath as she hissed at the light now in Anne’s window. What did he say to her this time? How could this be fixed?
Lady Russell sighed; there was nothing she could think of.
Suddenly she saw a movement to her right. When she glanced back, there appeared to be no one, but when she looked back at Anne’s window, she could swear there was a movement out of the corner of her eye.
This time when she turned back, she gasped. In the broken shadows of the apricot tree next to her was a man. Not just any man, but a man in a uniform. Instantly, she knew that it was Fredrick Wentworth looking up at Anne’s window.
Fredrick Wentworth was in her garden!
She had read his exploits, as she knew that Anne did, in the Gazette. He had given up a ship of the line to stay a captain of a frigate. He was not the only one to do such a thing, but she had thought it vulgar that he wanted to turn down such an honour to collect prize money. He continued to stay aboard ship after the war. Now he was stationed in North Africa with the ability to collect money from capturing slave ships. She had taken that as a sign he was constantly out of funds. Even she knew that most men did not stay so long aboard ship, once they had made their fortunes. She had not felt guilty at all about what she had done at Bath. Now….
“Captain Wentworth, what are you doing here?”
His silhouette was broken by the shadows; she noticed that he did not start when she spoke to him. Perhaps he had seen her come out.
She began to rise.
“Do stay where you are Lady Russell.”
The statement was a command, though the voice was not harsh.
“What are you doing in my garden Captain Wentworth?”
“I have come to check on Anne.”
“Captain Wentworth, that is not your-“
“I came to make sure she was safe and secure. Imagine my surprise when I discovered she was not at Kenellch.”
Lady Russell’s mind scrambled trying to think of what to say to the man who would not have treated her Anne so badly.
“Then imagine my surprise to discover that Mrs. Clay is in Anne’s home while Anne was at yours.”
Lady Russell was perfectly still. This was it. That man had moved his mistress into Anne’s home; as a companion? How dare that man! Her mind tried to work on a solution, but there was nothing to do in public without causing a scandal.
She saw his face turn very slightly from the window towards her. “What can you do to protect Anne?”
“I have spoken to him in the past. Perhaps you could-“
“I cannot do that, Lady Russell.”
“Cannot or will not.”
“I cannot, Lady Russell. Her position would be much worse if a man, wholly unrelated to her, spoke to her husband in such a way. Her position is very precarious, do you not agree?”
She was silent and thought before she spoke again.
“I would give anything to change the past, Captain. I know it cannot be done, but if you could just….”
“Just do what, Lady Russell?”
Her voice cracked, “Perhaps,….scare him. I know it is not the gentlemanly thing to do, but she could go back home and be safe.”
“Do you really believe that would work, or do you just wish to avoid a scandal?”
She could understand what was behind the question. “I realize what you must think of me…..”
“No, Lady Russell. You could not risk something so precious to a man who could die in a time of war. That I can understand. You must be very persuasive for her to break the engagement. That I also, grudgingly, understand.”
He stopped as though to get a grip on his emotions.
“When I returned, I then lost the finest woman there was for me through my own blindness. I am responsible for ….”
His voice trailed off as he looked back at the light. His upper body was in the shadows, but she could see the tenseness of his posture. Lady Russell now had a choice. She had to be honest as to just how terribly sorry she was about everything she had done.
“No. You do not know why I truly would give anything to change the past.” She took a deep breath before she restarted in a rush, “I knew. I knew in Bath that you had made an offer again. Mr. Elliot had made clear that he wanted Anne, and that would make her mistress of Kenellch. I could not have you take her away from her home. I had to keep you away. I insisted she come to my home when she just wanted to fly to you. I had to keep her….I tripped her."
All that could be heard was her ragged breath. “The apothecary told her that she had to stay. She implored me to go to her home and to tell you that all was well…..”
“You chose not to do so.”
“After which you chose to leave.”
“With my heart already broken, it did not react to reading the announcement in the Times. I wished her well. Now we are both outside her window.”
“I would give any-“
“This of all nights, madam, you should not say such things! Even you should know that!”
She was shocked at his vehemence. Whatever did he mean?
“I do not know how I am here, Lady Russell; so I would ask that you be careful what you say.” His voice had returned to its previous calm tone. He moved slightly. She realized that he appeared to be adjusting himself to stay in the broken shadow of the trees as the moon moved in the deep blue sky. This was curious for such a man, and she was going to ask about it when he spoke again.
“I can only believe I am here due to the couple we found at sea. You must listen to me, and have a care with your speech. My ship found a father and daughter aboard a dingy. Even in times of war, such a thing would have been unusual, but this was not such an occasion. There was not a battle, there was no debris, and there was nothing to indicate the ship they had been aboard.
“We rescued them. The men, even the most superstitious of them, said nothing since they had obviously been exposed to the elements for some time. The surgeon looked at them and requested assistance.” She could sense he was debating telling her something. “I called two of the tars. They predated me on the ship, but the surgeon and I both knew the couple consisted of a ‘he’ who was a woman and the man helped her keep her secret.”
Lady Russell could not resist an objection. “A woman serving aboard ship…”
“Such things happen, Lady Russell. What would you have a capable poor woman do? She made her way in the world and did so very well.”
“I had spoken to her, since I was concerned. The man was going to marry her, so she would leave the ship when there was sufficient money.” Again there was a pause with the ghost of a smile on his lips. “She had been on station in North Africa, searching of slavers longer than I had been. I had no quarrel with her work; she was needed since it was neither a popular nor pleasant duty. The child looked to be no more than 11 years of age and was in very bad shape, I was grateful to have ‘him’ to look after her. Everyone on board was concerned about what could be done to snatch them from the jaws of death.
“The man awoke and called to see me. He thanked me for all our courtesy to them. I tried to tell him it was nothing, we were lucky to find them. When I told him that I had done the best I could by his daughter; he just looked at me, and told me that he knew that to be true. He then discussed a person’s responsibilities to those they love regardless of the distance or the obstacles. I refrained from asking him questions about the ship on which they had been traveling since he was so weak. He fell asleep while demanding to know if I understood him.
“The next day they died; first the girl and then her father not long afterward. I felt it was a blessing that he had not awoken to be told the news. We buried them at sea, everyone working to given them as much honour as we could under the circumstances. I even checked that the….job was done properly. The stitching was especially pointed out to me for the girl. Our sailmaker wanted to honour her youth, and had made special stitches for her since his sister had taught him embroidery.”
“The morning after, the watch discovered the dingy had disappeared. There was no sign of it or how it could have gone overboard. On the next watch, at the place the dingy had been, were found the empty burial bags. There was no mistaking them.
“It was obvious that the bags had not been touched even though the contents was not there; removed with nary a cut to the canvas.
“Needless to say the crew was….shaken after such an experience. That day we came across our quarry, a slaver we had been hunting for over a week. We took it and did not sustain a death, which is almost impossible under such circumstances. Afterward, the crew decided a favor had been returned and did not speak of it.”
Captain Wentworth stopped. “Now I am here.”
That did not make any sense to Lady Russell. None at all.
The Captain went on. “After that conversation, I arranged for the bulk of my estate to go to my sister with my brother as trustee. If anything were to happen to her, the funds would go to my brother. I wrote both of them that, if necessary, the funds were to be used to support a friend of mine. One never knows who reads one’s letters, but I thought I had made my meaning clear.” At this Lady Russell sensed that he stopped himself from turning to look at her. “Both my siblings managed to send letters to me. My sister said she was looking for a companion, but the search was tedious so she would wait for the right person to be sent to her through friends. My brother wrote much the same about his wife.”
“I do not understand-“
“If you can arrange for Anne to be taken, discreetly, somewhere so that my brother, the Admiral, could take charge of her, he will take her into his home as a “paid companion” for my sister. Should my sister’s circumstances change, my brother and his wife will take her in. She will always have a safe home.”
Lady Russell did not know what to make of this proposal. The Captain had thought of Anne, but thinking that she turn her back on everything and throw herself on the mercy of strangers; there had to be a better course of action.
“You do not approve.”
“You would have her give up everything she knows.”
“I would have her go to people who I know would care for her.”
“If she were to throw her life away, what would you do, Captain Wentworth? As much as I now wish you had married Anne at the time of your betrothal, surely you can see that your presence would make such an arrangement impossible for her.”
He stood for a moment and then slightly shifted so that he was in less of the shadows. Lady Russell could see that he had obviously ridden hard since his uniform was stained from exertion.
“You obviously do not understand, Lady Russell.”
She began to wonder, looking at his blue coat that appeared gray black in the moon’s light. Grey black for the coat and black for the stains.
“My ship engaged The Raven, a slave ship we had been chasing for over a fortnight, October 31 at 3 PM.”
Her mind registered what he was saying, as she disbelieved it.
“In the heat of battle, I was wounded and taken below deck. My men are very good, Lady Russell; Mr. Markham is a good commander and they took The Raven not long afterward.
“Now I am here.”
He continued to look up at Anne’s window. Lady Russell removed herself from her bench and moved toward him trying to think of something to say so this insane man would stay away from Anne.
“Stay where you are Lady Russell.”
She was not about to do that and as she closed the distance, he gradually turned towards her. How could he order her in her own-.
The sound of her words choking in her throat surely could be heard in the house, she thought distantly as she looked at the destruction of the front of the coat and the brim of his hat. He did not fully turn to her so as to leave the other side of his face in shadow. As she stared Lady Russell thought it would be a miracle if there was actually an arm under the layers fabric.
The lips on the side of his face she could see turned up slightly. “I can only imagine what I look like, and I did not wish to frighten Anne.”
He had attempted to keep her at bay, she had caused him to reveal a bit of himself to her. Lady Russell backed away.
“Promise me that you will send an express to my sister today, regardless of what you think of tonight’s events.” She could say nothing. He turned slight more towards her. It was enough for her to awaken her from her shock and gasp. “I will. I promise.”
“You’ll need find a way to get her safely to them without his knowledge. The Admiral is a very capable man who can help you with that part.”
He was looking at Anne’s window again. Without a word to her, he began to walk to the house. When she looked up, she saw there was no light in Anne’s window. When she looked back to the Captain he was disappearing into the shadows surrounding the house.
Without thought as to what she would do, Lady Russell ran to Anne’s room. She had the sense not to burst through the door; whether it was to allow Anne to continue to sleep or to try to surprise Captain Wentworth, even she did not know.
When she entered, all was as it should be in the room. She could smell a recently gutted candle as she moved closer to the bed. The person dearest to her in all the world was finally asleep. Anne’s borrowed gown had pulled away from her. Lady Russell looked down at the bruises on the small neck. Anne could do nothing against such a man.
Very gently she put her hand out to move a few stray hairs out of Anne’s face. The dear girl did not move. Lady Russell knew she must be exhausted.
“I would give anything to see you married to the better man. I am so sorry my dear,” she whispered to the lady’s unhearing ears.
With the slightest of sighs, she returned very quietly to her rooms. She did not immediately go to bed, but lit her own candle and moved to her desk. The letters were written to both brother and sister. She believed she knew where both were to be found. How to move Anne to where she could…..On this Lady Russell had no opinion. Anything that came to her mind, ended with Lord Elliot showing up on a doorstep and demanding his wife while accompanied by her “companion”. In each letter she asked for assistance in bringing the candidate for the position to their homes for an interview.
“I would do anything to see Anne happy. Anything.” she said to herself. She would need to rely on others for that now. There was nothing she could do. As much as she may wish it, there was no going back to change her original error, nor any of the errors after that first one. With these thoughts she fell into a restless sleep.
The next morning she awoke in her bed later than usual for her. She felt remarkably refreshed considering her restless night. When she threw off the covers, she discovered it was much warmer than she would have expected for the season. When she looked at the grate, there was no fire. Very curious! Then she looked at her side table and did not see the letters. She was sure she not left them at her desk?
The window with the view of her bench and the fruit trees seemed to beckon her with its rays of sun streaming through; casting aside all the shocks of the early morning.
Until she looked out the window to behold her garden in spring bloom. The apricot and apple both in full bloom, as they had been every spring for all the years of her tenancy.
She stared in astonishment at the sight, unsure if she had really awoken! Then a man and a woman walked out into the sunshine from underneath the blooms of the fruit trees. It was Anne and Captain Wentworth. She was about to hurry dressing so that she could confront the Captain about his cruel joke when she noticed Anne’s attire. Modest as always, but it was not the dress of a matron. It was the dress of a young woman. Captain Wentworth’s uniform was not the one she saw last night. She would say that it was the one when he came for his first visit. Lady Russell recalled standing at this window when she first realized that Anne was in danger of following her heart.
She stood at the window, trying to remember what she had seen before and if it matched now. What was she to do? Surely there would be someone to see to this matter? She now knew why the Captain had cautioned her last night. Still she could not bring herself regret as she looked down at the young lovers.
As Lady Russell contemplated what to do, her maid entered with a tea tray. Lady Russell did not turn as Letty moved to her bed. Lady Russell decided she did not want to see.
When she heard Letty drop the tray and began to scream that the mistress was dead, Lady Russell decided that her bench might be a more restful place to wait.
Finis