Captain Benwick's Grief — Persuasion

The aftermath of the accident reshapes everything. Anne spends her last two days at Uppercross helping the devastated Musgrove parents prepare to go to Lyme to be near Louisa. News arrives that Wentworth is fixed at Lyme, showing no intention of leaving while Louisa remains injured. Anne interprets this as decisive: he'll marry Louisa once she recovers. The house that was filled with laughter and company empties completely. Anne is the last one remaining, sitting alone in the deserted mansion on a dark November day with rain blotting out the windows. She imagines the future: when Louisa recovers, Wentworth will marry her, and these rooms will fill again "with all that was happy and gay, all that was glowing and bright in prosperous love, all that was most unlike Anne Elliot." Lady Russell arrives to take Anne to Bath. They visit the Crofts at Kellynch Hall, and Anne learns something that pierces through her resignation: Wentworth came to Kellynch yesterday, brought a note about Louisa, and specifically asked after Anne. More than that, he praised her exertions during the crisis, called them "great." Mrs. Croft delivers this casually, not knowing what it means to Anne. It's handsome of him to acknowledge her competence, even while planning to marry someone else. The Admiral, with characteristic bluntness, jokes about Wentworth's "new sort of way" of making love, "breaking his mistress's head." Lady Russell and Mrs. Croft agree the accident was the result of "thoughtlessness and imprudence," Louisa's reckless determination to be jumped down the steps. Anne says nothing, but she's thinking: Wentworth spent weeks praising firmness, decisiveness, refusing to be persuaded. He got exactly what he encouraged. His philosophy of absolute firmness nearly killed the girl he was courting and revealed what Anne always knew, that persuadability isn't weakness. Sometimes it's wisdom. Anne prepares to leave for Bath, believing she's seen the last of Frederick Wentworth. He'll marry Louisa. Anne will return to invisibility. At least she knows he saw her clearly, for one moment, during the crisis. It will have to be enough.