Persuasion

Anne escapes seeing Mr. Elliot in the morning, but he's coming again in the evening. Now that she knows his true character—the calculating selfishness, the cruelty to Mrs. Smith, the mercenary scheming—she can barely stand to be in his presence. When he arrives, she's icily civil, "decidedly cool," retracting "the few steps of unnecessary intimacy she had been gradually led along." She sees insincerity in everything now: his attentive deference to her father (whom he privately mocked), his artificial good sentiments, his polished lies. Mr. Elliot senses something has changed but doesn't understand what. The charm is broken. Then Mary and Charles Musgrove arrive unexpectedly, bringing Mrs. Musgrove and Henrietta to Bath. They're staying at the White Hart inn. Henrietta is shopping for wedding clothes—she and Charles Hayter will marry soon. And Captain Harville is here on business. Anne hurries to visit them at the inn, and there—suddenly, shockingly—Wentworth walks in with Charles. They're in the same room again, with their mutual friends, in circumstances that feel both promising and dangerous. Anne can barely think clearly. Charles wants everyone to go to the theatre, but Mary reminds him they're engaged to Camden Place tomorrow evening—Elizabeth's party to meet the Dalrymples and Mr. Elliot. Charles dismisses it: "What's an evening party? Never worth remembering." The discussion becomes heated. Charles asks what Mr. Elliot is to him—"What is Mr. Elliot to me?"—and Anne sees that "Captain Wentworth was all attention, looking and listening with his whole soul." Later, Wentworth approaches Anne and they have a brief, charged conversation. He mentions their eight-and-a-half-year separation: "It is a period, indeed!" Then Sir Walter and Elizabeth arrive, bringing their cold formality into the warm room. "The comfort, the freedom, the gaiety of the room was over, hushed into cold composure." Elizabeth extends an invitation to everyone for tomorrow's party, pointedly including Wentworth. But Anne can't tell if his acknowledgment is acceptance or contempt. That evening, she agonizes: will he come to Camden Place, or not?