Persuasion
time (the summer of 1814) wearing black ribbons for his wife, she could
not admit him to be worth thinking of again. The disgrace of his first
marriage might, perhaps, as there was no reason to suppose it
perpetuated by offspring, have been got over, had he not done worse;
but he had, as by the accustomary intervention of kind friends, they
had been informed, spoken most disrespectfully of them all, most
slightingly and contemptuously of the very blood he belonged to, and
the honours which were hereafter to be his own. This could not be
pardoned.
Such were Elizabeth Elliot’s sentiments and sensations; such the cares
to alloy, the agitations to vary, the sameness and the elegance, the
prosperity and the nothingness of her scene of life; such the feelings
to give interest to a long, uneventful residence in one country circle,
to fill the vacancies which there were no habits of utility abroad, no
talents or accomplishments for home, to occupy.
But now, another occupation and solicitude of mind was beginning to be
added to these. Her father was growing distressed for money. She knew,
that when he now took up the Baronetage, it was to drive the heavy
bills of his tradespeople, and the unwelcome hints of Mr Shepherd, his
agent, from his thoughts. The Kellynch property was good, but not equal
to Sir Walter’s apprehension of the state required in its possessor.
While Lady Elliot lived, there had been method, moderation, and
economy, which had just kept him within his income; but with her had
died all such right-mindedness, and from that period he had been
constantly exceeding it. It had not been possible for him to spend
less; he had done nothing but what Sir Walter Elliot was imperiously
called on to do; but blameless as he was, he was not only growing
dreadfully in debt, but was hearing of it so often, that it became vain
to attempt concealing it longer, even partially, from his daughter. He
had given her some hints of it the last spring in town; he had gone so
far even as to say, “Can we retrench? Does it occur to you that there
is any one article in which we can retrench?” and Elizabeth, to do her
justice, had, in the first ardour of female alarm, set seriously to
think what could be done, and had finally proposed these two branches
of economy, to cut off some unnecessary charities, and to refrain from
new furnishing the drawing-room; to which expedients she afterwards
added the happy thought of their taking no present down to Anne, as had
been the usual yearly custom. But these measures, however good in
themselves, were insufficient for the real extent of the evil, the
whole of which Sir Walter found himself obliged to confess to her soon
afterwards. Elizabeth had nothing to propose of deeper efficacy. She
felt herself ill-used and unfortunate, as did her father; and they were
neither of them able to devise any means of lessening their expenses
without compromising their dignity, or relinquishing their comforts in
a way not to be borne.
There was only a small part of his estate that Sir Walter could dispose
of; but had every acre been alienable, it would have made no
difference. He had condescended to mortgage as far as he had the power,
but he would never condescend to sell. No; he would never disgrace his
name so far. The Kellynch estate should be transmitted whole and
entire, as he had received it.
Their two confidential friends, Mr Shepherd, who lived in the
neighbouring market town, and Lady Russell, were called on to advise them;
and both father and daughter seemed to expect that something should be
struck out by one or the other to remove their embarrassments and
reduce their expenditure, without involving the loss of any indulgence
of taste or pride.
CHAPTER II.
Mr Shepherd, a civil, cautious lawyer, who, whatever might be his hold
or his views on Sir Walter, would rather have the _disagreeable_
prompted by anybody else, excused himself from offering the slightest
hint, and only begged leave to recommend an implicit reference to the
excellent judgement of Lady Russell, from whose known good sense he
fully expected to have just such resolute measures advised as he meant
to see finally adopted.
Lady Russell was most anxiously zealous on the subject, and gave it
much serious consideration. She was a woman rather of sound than of
quick abilities, whose difficulties in coming to any decision in this
instance were great, from the opposition of two leading principles. She
was of strict integrity herself, with a delicate sense of honour; but
she was as desirous of saving Sir Walter’s feelings, as solicitous for
the credit of the family, as aristocratic in her ideas of what was due
to them, as anybody of sense and honesty could well be. She was a
benevolent, charitable, good woman, and capable of strong attachments,
most correct in her conduct, strict in her notions of decorum, and with
manners that were held a standard of good-breeding. She had a
cultivated mind, and was, generally speaking, rational and
consistent—but she had prejudices on the side of ancestry; she had a
value for rank and consequence, which blinded her a little to the
faults of those who possessed them. Herself the widow of only a knight,
she gave the dignity of a baronet all its due; and Sir Walter,
independent of his claims as an old acquaintance, an attentive
neighbour, an obliging landlord, the husband of her very dear friend,
the father of Anne and her sisters, was, as being Sir Walter, in her
apprehension, entitled to a great deal of compassion and consideration
under his present difficulties.
They must retrench; that did not admit of a doubt. But she was very
anxious to have it done with the least possible pain to him and
Elizabeth. She drew up plans of economy, she made exact calculations,
and she did what nobody else thought of doing: she consulted Anne, who
never seemed considered by the others as having any interest in the
question. She consulted, and in a degree was influenced by her in
marking out the scheme of retrenchment which was at last submitted to
Sir Walter. Every emendation of Anne’s had been on the side of honesty
against importance. She wanted more vigorous measures, a more complete
reformation, a quicker release from debt, a much higher tone of
indifference for everything but justice and equity.
“If we can persuade your father to all this,” said Lady Russell,
looking over her paper, “much may be done. If he will adopt these
regulations, in seven years he will be clear; and I hope we may be able
to convince him and Elizabeth, that Kellynch Hall has a respectability
in itself which cannot be affected by these reductions; and that the
true dignity of Sir Walter Elliot will be very far from lessened in the
eyes of sensible people, by acting like a man of principle. What will
he be doing, in fact, but what very many of our first families have
done, or ought to do? There will be nothing singular in his case; and
it is singularity which often makes the worst part of our suffering, as
it always does of our conduct. I have great hope of prevailing. We must
be serious and decided; for after all, the person who has contracted
debts must pay them; and though a great deal is due to the feelings of
the gentleman, and the head of a house, like your father, there is
still more due to the character of an honest man.”
This was the principle on which Anne wanted her father to be
proceeding, his friends to be urging him. She considered it as an act
of indispensable duty to clear away the claims of creditors with all
the expedition which the most comprehensive retrenchments could secure,
and saw no dignity in anything short of it. She wanted it to be
prescribed, and felt as a duty. She rated Lady Russell’s influence
highly; and as to the severe degree of self-denial which her own
conscience prompted, she believed there might be little more difficulty
in persuading them to a complete, than to half a reformation. Her
knowledge of her father and Elizabeth inclined her to think that the
sacrifice of one pair of horses would be hardly less painful than of
both, and so on, through the whole list of Lady Russell’s too gentle
reductions.
How Anne’s more rigid requisitions might have been taken is of little
consequence. Lady Russell’s had no success at all: could not be put up
with, were not to be borne. “What! every comfort of life knocked off!
Journeys, London, servants, horses, table—contractions and restrictions
every where! To live no longer with the decencies even of a private
gentleman! No, he would sooner quit Kellynch Hall at once, than remain
in it on such disgraceful terms.”
“Quit Kellynch Hall.” The hint was immediately taken up by Mr Shepherd,
whose interest was involved in the reality of Sir Walter’s retrenching,
and who was perfectly persuaded that nothing would be done without a
change of abode. “Since the idea had been started in the very quarter
which ought to dictate, he had no scruple,” he said, “in confessing his
judgement to be entirely on that side. It did not appear to him that
Sir Walter could materially alter his style of living in a house which
had such a character of hospitality and ancient dignity to support. In
any other place Sir Walter might judge for himself; and would be looked
up to, as regulating the modes of life in whatever way he might choose
to model his household.”
Sir Walter would quit Kellynch Hall; and after a very few days more of
doubt and indecision, the great question of whither he should go was
settled, and the first outline of this important change made out.
There had been three alternatives, London, Bath, or another house in
the country. All Anne’s wishes had been for the latter. A small house
in their own neighbourhood, where they might still have Lady Russell’s
society, still be near Mary, and still have the pleasure of sometimes
seeing the lawns and groves of Kellynch, was the object of her
ambition. But the usual fate of Anne attended her, in having something
very opposite from her inclination fixed on. She disliked Bath, and did
not think it agreed with her; and Bath was to be her home.
Sir Walter had at first thought more of London; but Mr Shepherd felt
that he could not be trusted in London, and had been skilful enough to
dissuade him from it, and make Bath preferred. It was a much safer
place for a gentleman in his predicament: he might there be important
at comparatively little expense. Two material advantages of Bath over
London had of course been given all their weight: its more convenient
distance from Kellynch, only fifty miles, and Lady Russell’s spending
some part of every winter there; and to the very great satisfaction of
Lady Russell, whose first views on the projected change had been for
Bath, Sir Walter and Elizabeth were induced to believe that they should
lose neither consequence nor enjoyment by settling there.
Lady Russell felt obliged to oppose her dear Anne’s known wishes. It
would be too much to expect Sir Walter to descend into a small house in
his own neighbourhood. Anne herself would have found the mortifications
of it more than she foresaw, and to Sir Walter’s feelings they must
have been dreadful. And with regard to Anne’s dislike of Bath, she
considered it as a prejudice and mistake arising, first, from the
circumstance of her having been three years at school there, after her
mother’s death; and secondly, from her happening to be not in perfectly
good spirits the only winter which she had afterwards spent there with
herself.
Lady Russell was fond of Bath, in short, and disposed to think it must
suit them all; and as to her young friend’s health, by passing all the
warm months with her at Kellynch Lodge, every danger would be avoided;
and it was in fact, a change which must do both health and spirits