Lady Russell

They take the Harville children with them for the holidays to relieve Mrs. and Mr. Harville of some stress.

Mary and Charles are also back from Lyme, and they visit Anne and Lady Russell at Kellynch Lodge.

They've had a grand old time in Lyme, such a fun vacation while Louisa's brain heals.

Anne asks about Benwick, and Charles says, "Well, he talked about visiting, 'cause he's got a big old crush on you, Anne." Mary is offended by the idea that anyone could have a crush on Anne, and is like, "Nuh-uh, Benwick is my new best friend forever, and I would totally know if he had a crush on Anne." They are all excited to see what Lady Russell thinks of Benwick when he comes to visit, but Mary, Charles, and Anne can't seem to agree on this either.

Charles and Anne think Lady Russell will like Benwick, and Mary thinks that Lady Russell will find him dull.

It's all very intriguing.

What will Lady Russell actually think of Benwick? But we'll never know what Lady Russell thinks about Benwick, because he doesn't come to visit, even though they're all super kind of waiting for it.

Rude.

And I was thinking maybe are all the characters in Emma dragons? Yeah.

Anyway, uh, Persuasion, uh, I kind of feel like Lady Russell would work as a dragon, and it kind of...

You've got that weird vibe, um, between her and the father because there's that sense of like, "She was the friend of your mother, and she's now a friend of your father," but they've never married.

And it's like, yeah, I know.

She lent her books from her extensive library and encouraged her as a fledgling writer.

Anne was actually 27 years older than Jane, so she may have taken on the role of a kind of mother figure to her, and it's been suggested that she might have inspired the character of Lady Russell in Persuasion.

Anne Lefroy was a really extraordinary woman in her own right.

She was known locally as Madame Lefroy for her sophisticated tastes and manners.

But luckily, this rumination doesn't last long.

She's reunited with Lady Russell and is off to go and stay with her for a bit.

Lady Russell and Anne catch up, glad to be back in each other's company.

Lady Russell tells Anne that her bloom is back.

Anne tells Lady Russell about what happened in Lyme.

Here is our beloved Roxanne Eberly on bloom and the obsession with beauty in the book.

So bloom is a, a tricky word, right? I think of it more as health, whereas for Sir Walter, it's about surface value.

It's the feeling of the sea air on her that causes the bloom.

Thirteen years had passed away since Lady Elliot's death, and they were still near neighbours and intimate friends, and one remained a widower, the other a widow.

That Lady Russell, of steady age and character, and extremely well provided for, should have no thought of a second marriage, needs no apology to the public, which is rather apt to be unreasonably discontented when a woman does marry again than when she does not.

But Sir Walter's continuing in singleness requires explanation.

Be it known, then, that Sir Walter, like a good father, having met with one or two private disappointments and very unreasonable applications, prided himself on remaining single for his dear daughter's sake.

Her convenience was always to give way.

She was only Anne.

To Lady Russell, indeed, she was a most dear and highly valued goddaughter, favourite, and friend.

Lady Russell loved them all, but it was only in Anne that she could fancy the mother to revive again.

A very bad match according to society.

Right, and Anne was persuaded by this sensible, well-meaning, but completely wrongheaded family friend named Lady Russell to break off the engagement.

It was a devastating choice, but it was born out of duty, prudence, and just the intense social pressure of her class.

So Wentworth leaves.

And it also kind of unites them.

This is something, right, that Lady Russell was worried about.

She thinks that Wentworth is too emotional.

And we actually kind of see some proof of that here, right? His feelings do get away from him and he needs Anne's strong.

Of course, she was the mother also of Elizabeth and the mother also of Mary.

But somehow she had what Anne needed and Anne received it.

And then Lady Russell kind of kept it going.

Well, Anne says that her mother listens to her play with love.

Anne is getting ready to leave Uppercross.

Lady Russell is returning to Kellynch, and Anne will go stay with her.

Wentworth, in the meantime, has been gone for 24 hours.

It turns out that he heard a good friend of his from the Navy was pretty close by in Lyme, and Wentworth went down to see him, a Captain Harville.

She's not being his friend.

Right.

This is not what she would say to Lady Russell.

Right.

Thirteen years had passed away since Lady Elliot's death, and they were still near neighbours and intimate friends, and one remained a widower, the other a widow.

That Lady Russell, of steady age and character, and extremely well provided for, should have no thought of a second marriage needs no apology to the public, which is rather apt to be unreasonably discontented when a woman does marry again than when she does not.

But Sir Walter's continuing in singleness requires explanation.

Be it known, then, that Sir Walter, like a good father, having met with one or two private disappointments in very unreasonable applications, prided himself on remaining single for his dear daughters' sake.

Her convenience was always to give way.

She was only Anne.

To Lady Russell, indeed, she was a most dear and highly valued goddaughter, favourite, and friend.

Lady Russell loved them all, but it was only in Anne that she could fancy the mother to revive again.