ELIZABETH DALTON
53
pulse and the individual. As a man , he is impatient and energetic; as a
naval officer, he confi'onts the unmediated violence of nature and of bat–
tle. The excitement surrounding Wentworth suggests something of
Anne's motive in rejecting him. Every thought of him evokes ideas of
danger, safety, and escape. When he leaves Kellynch, "So ended all dan–
ger ... Everything was safe ... she smiled over the many anxious feel–
ings she had wasted." The symptoms of those anxious fe elings - the
flushed cheeks, agitation, confusion, quick breathing, pounding heart -
are also signs of erotic excitement, which for Anne is inextricably min–
gled with anxiety.
The language describing Wentworth implies sexual potency: he is
"lucky in his profession ... spending freely what had come freely"; he is
"full of life and ardour." His swashbuckling way of speaking of his ship
also suggests masculine power:
"Ahl she was a dear old
Asp
to me. She did all that I wanted. I knew
she would - I knew that we should either go to the bottom together,
or that she would be the making of me. "
The ship seems to have replaced Anne, who did
not
do what
Wentworth wanted - perhaps out of fear of the very ardor and energy
that have made him successful. Wentworth's "sanguine temper" certainly
frightens Lady Russell: "She saw in it but an aggravation of the evil.
It
only added a dangerous character to himself" Like Anne, she fears this
bold masculinity.
Anne 's sad and reserved demeanor sets her apart from the other
young people; in their company she observes, she overhears, she plays the
piano while they dance. They treat her as if she were either too old or
too young for their lively sexual maneuvering, like an elderly chaperone
or a child tagging along with grown-ups.
In
the most striking example
of this pattern, Anne accompanies the others on a walking party at
Uppercross. While the Musgrove girls take advantage of the chance to
flirt with Wentworth, Anne mopes along trying to recall sad poems
about autumn. She overhears Wentworth say jokingly to Louisa that he
wonders where his sister and his brother-in-law, a notoriously bad driver,
will upset their carriage this time. " ' If I loved a man as she loves the
Admiral,'" declares Louisa, ' I would rather be overturned by him than
driven safely by anyone else.' " Louisa, with her usual sexual enthusiasm,
is plainly volunteering to be "overturned" by Wentworth.
As if to fulfill that wish, she disappears with him into a hedgerow,
where Anne hears them "making their way back along the rough, wild
sort of channel, down the centre." The unseen listener and the couple
