(This conversation will contain spoilers for the current chapters.)

S: Ah, the moment we realise nobody cares about us more than we care about ourselves! It’s funny, and true, how Anne is surprised that the move to Bath by her father, sister, and Mrs. Clay is not the most important thing to the Musgrove family.

R: I would have been a little surprised along with Anne, since Mary is her sister. It seems that she ought to have some interest in what’s happening with her family. But as we see in this chapter, Mary is quite self-centred. 

S: Very self-centred! I’m amused and saddened by Anne’s observations regarding the Musgroves, and how much of a confidant she is to all around her. Just as I cannot abide Elizabeth and Sir Walter, I cannot abide Mary. It is so sad that the things Sir Walter passed on to his youngest and oldest daughters were pride, jealousy, and vanity. 

R: Agreed! Charles Musgrove seems to have some sense, but as with the others, he shouldn’t be airing his complaints about his wife to Anne. I’ve been the recipient of confidences about other people I know, and it’s always coloured how I view that person and made it difficult to get along with them.

S: That can certainly happen, and is perhaps one reason why the Bible teaches against gossip and cautions us to be careful of our words. 

R: Absolutely! Gossip is so harmful, and that’s a theme we see throughout Jane Austen’s books. 

S: I did wonder how Anne and Captain Wentworth would meet again. I enjoy how, in Austen’s novels, people are connected in the most peculiar yet plausible ways as in the case of the Musgroves and Captain Wentworth. Although I don’t know much about Captain Wentworth yet, he seems to be a good man. 

R: It was amusing that with the way Mrs. Croft spoke, Anne couldn’t tell which of her brothers she was speaking of. I wonder if the elder Musgroves’ feelings about the death of their son, after having been under the command of Captain Wentworth at an earlier time, will be a significant part of the story.

S: I wonder that, too. 

There is a part in Chapter 7 that made me laugh aloud: ‘Husbands and wives generally understand when opposition will be vain’. How true! The more you’re around another person the more you understand how they think. 

R: I’m certainly finding that to be true! That said, the application in this chapter is sad, or perhaps disappointing. I’m not sure whether I think that one or both parents should have stayed with their injured son rather than going off to dinner or not. While Charles could be seen as unfeeling, and Mary perhaps even moreso; at the same time, if the injury really isn’t that severe, leaving him in Anne’s care may be sufficient. However, it certainly seemed as if they had reason to worry about a spinal injury. 

S: One thing I’ve noticed is that there are a lot of assumptions made about Anne – she’s fine with this, she’s uninterested in that – it bothers me, but she has her assumptions as well, mainly regarding Captain Wentworth. Speaking of Captain Wentworth, I’m so sad he doesn’t seem to realise how strong a mind and how sweet a manner Anne now has compared to when she broke off their engagement! My fairly educated guess is that in the end they are going to end up together and all will be forgiven, but right now all I feel is sad.

R: Austen writes at the end of Chapter 7: ‘…and Anne Elliot was not out of his thoughts, when he more seriously described the woman he should wish to meet with. ‘A strong mind, with sweetness of manner,’ made the first and the last of the description.’ I read that as that is how Captain Wentworth describes Anne, that that is how he sees her, even now. He’s looking for someone like her, if not Anne herself.

S: Oh, true!

Chapter 8 is interesting. Captain Wentworth, Frederick, certainly has opinions, which bothers me a bit, but they are also understandable opinions considering he was not expecting to run into Anne ever again and, presumably, still feels hurt and betrayed. I do wonder, though, what he actually is thinking when he looks at Anne. Is he trying to figure her out or does he want to try and reconnect with her?

R: I was annoyed initially at Frederick’s opinions about women on ships. At the same time, I get it as being the thoughts of the times, and I can appreciate that his dislike of women on ships has more to do with their comfort than any other reason. What made me sad were Anne’s thoughts at one point near the end of the chapter: ‘Once she felt that he was looking at herself, observing her altered features, perhaps, trying to trace them in the ruins of the face which had once charmed him…’ As someone who has only recently gotten married, well past the age that is considered typical even now, it is upsetting that anyone would consider themselves ‘ruined’ while still in their twenties. Ladies, your life isn’t over if you haven’t married before 30, or even 40!

S: Or, if you never marry! 

I do not know how I feel about Charles Hayter. I understand where he’s coming from and why he has such dislike for Frederick, but his conduct with Walter was a bit appalling and I, like Anne, am glad Frederick stepped in to corral the child. It’s interesting to note that this is one of the only times, perhaps the first in Austen’s works, that we see an adult speak directly to a child. The children are sort of out of the way most of the time but Mary’s children are, right now, very much part of the story. I wonder if Frederick’s help in that situation may be the turning point in his feelings for Anne.

R: I feel so sorry for Anne being forced to listen to her sister and brother-in-law’s machinations to get one of their daughters married off to Captain Wentworth. I also feel bad for Charles Hayter, who feels that Frederick is impinging on his ‘territory’ with Henrietta, when it doesn’t seem that Captain Wentworth has his cap set at anyone in particular at the moment. His stepping in to help Anne with Walter was, at minimum, simple common decency and helpfulness, but may show that he doesn’t hold Anne’s previous actions against her, or that he sees her in a better light than she expects.

S: Yes! That’s what I’m hoping Frederick is thinking. 

I absolutely love what Austen says about Autumn in Chapter 10 (so much so that I reread it aloud!): ‘Her pleasure in the walk must arise from the exercise and the day, from the view of the last smiles of the year upon the tawny leaves and withered hedges, and from repeating to herself some few of the thousand poetical descriptions extant of autumn, that season of peculiar and inexhaustible influence on the mind of taste and tenderness, that season which has drawn from every poet, worthy of being read, some attempt at description, or some lines of feeling’. 

R: That is a really lovely description!

S: I think I am okay with liking and feeling bad for Charles Hayter, although I do wish that if he really does love Henrietta that he would fight for her rather than pout, even if she outrightly rejected him. In the end, it worked out because he and Henrietta end up together, apparently for good.

I love the addition of the Admiral and Mrs. Croft, and I think I really like her character. I also cannot see Frederick helping Anne be able to sit in the carriage with the Crofts as a bad thing and instead see it as Anne does – he notices she is tired and helps her get home comfortably. I suppose he could just want to get rid of her so he can spend more time with Louisa, but I don’t think so.

It is strange that people think Anne turned down Charles because of Lady Russell. That’s very presumptive, albeit a very probable idea, but I do wonder if it makes Frederick even more convinced that Anne is easily persuaded by others. 

R: I’m not sure what to feel about this chapter. Was Louisa lying to Frederick about Anne turning down her brother? That seems to be the case (unless I missed something earlier that said this happened). I did like that Captain Wentworth went out of his way to ask the Crofts to take Anne home in the carriage, but I feel bad about them talking in front of her about Frederick’s possible pursuit of Louisa or Henrietta. Does nobody besides Anne’s own immediate family know that they were on the verge of being engaged years ago? If they do, it seems highly insensitive of all of them!

S: Agreed! It’s very upsetting, and makes it difficult to not be annoyed with the lot of them. Still, I think that, so far, Chapter 10 is my favourite chapter.