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It wasn't long before the general Musgrove opinion was that any social gathering at Uppercross could be improved by the presence of the good Captain Wentworth. He was invited to just about every occasion, and he came to many.
Today's affair was a rather relaxed gathering. It was the afternoon, the coffee was out, hot and bitter, and so was the card table. Mary Musgrove, with exclamations that Wentworth had spent too much time with Charles and the other men, and that he has been depriving her and the others of his company, led Wentworth over to the card table and began to start up a game of whist. Louisa and Henrietta, eager for a diversion (even if it were only cards), joined the game.
Louisa got to the table first and took the seat across from Wentworth, making her his partner for the game. Henrietta, in a slightly slower movement, took the seat to his right, across the table from Mary.
"There now, you see, Captain Wentworth - now you are spending time with the ladies," Mary said, and began to deal the cards. Wentworth only made a non-committal nod in reply as he picked up his hand.
The first game finished with a win for Mary's partnership, which left her in high enough spirits to discontinue her absolute monopoly of the conversation at the table. Enough time for Louisa to express her interest in coffee and for Wentworth to offer to fetch some for her.
"And how do you take it?" he asked, glad of a reason to stretch his legs before he must begin the second game that Mary was already shuffling for.
"Two lumps of sugar and a splash of milk, please."
The coffee pot and cups were in the corner across from the window, which was where Anne sat. When he'd first entered the room, Mrs. Musgrove's head has been bent towards Anne, deep in some detailed explanation, but now the older woman was laughing with her son, and Anne appeared to have taken up a vigil at the window. She had her hands wrapped around a cup, but Wentworth knew it must have long gone cold, since it had been a stretch since she'd approach the pitcher.
Captain Wentworth prepared his own cup of coffee, then poured Louisa's. Besides the inescapable greeting when he'd first arrived in the house, this was the closest he'd been to Anne all day.
Dark with a dash of cinnamon was how Anne preferred her coffee.
Wentworth firmly added the two sugars and portion of milk Louisa had requested.
Anne moved out of the corner of his eye, but she was just shifting position, still staring out the window. His eyes looked out there too -- there was nothing to see.
Wentworth returned to his cards.
"Thank you, Captain," Louisa said when she received her steaming cup. She sipped it, "It's perfect."
"My father, the baronet, procures all his coffee from only the Paraiba Valley, in Brazil," Mary said, a touch too loudly. "Lady Dalrymple has stated many a time that is where the world's finest coffee is to be found, and of course she is right."
No one responded to Mary. Wentworth had to push down a flash of anger, beyond the mere annoyance that Mary's words should bring. He'd had enough of the Elliot pride to last a lifetime.
And sometimes, out of the corner of his eye, he could see the shape of Anne in Mary's face. And that disquieted him all the more. A part of him wanted to compare Mary with her silent sister by the window as if they were transparent overlays, finding out just how closely their countenances and spirits resembled each other. Before, Wentworth had always marveled at how little Anne's character had resembled her family's, but now he could not say.
Anne had not been like she was now when he'd first known her. Oh, she had always been reserved, but not like this. Now, there was something unfocused about her -- washed out.
All the Musgroves certainly liked her well enough, but when their conversations with her were over and the partner turned away, Anne's gaze slipped off somewhere, like a sailor looking at the distant horizon. Sometimes it was as if she wasn't even there.
She looked unhappy, was the sum of it.
Good, Wentworth thought.
Good. He'd been unhappy for years after she'd broken off their engagement. Of course, he was himself again now, but he couldn't deny a certain satisfaction at seeing her reap what she sowed.
"There!" Louisa said triumphantly, drawing Wentworth's eyes back to her. She had taken the winning trick.
"I should have known you would carry the day," he said, sipping his coffee.
She smiled winningly. "Shall we play again?"
He smiled back. "If that is what you would like."
"It is," she said, unafraid of holding back.
"Yes, let's play again," Mary agreed.
He dealt a new hand, and they played again. Louisa really was a charming girl. His eyes slid back to Anne at the window. At the close of the next round, Henrietta conferred with Louisa in a quick flurry of whispers, then Henrietta rose to approach Anne. When Henrietta's hand touched her back, Anne startled a little, then had to steady her cup.
"Anne!" Henrietta said. "Oh, Anne, would you play? You were so fine the other day, I could listen to you play a country reel all night!" Henrietta was gently guiding Anne to the piano in the corner of the room, being earnestly complimentary and thoughtlessly imposing, the way very young women fresh out of school could be.
It was still early for dancing, but the staid get-together took on a spontaneously jubilant air that owed its birth primarily to the two young Musgrove sisters, whom everyone found it hard to deny.
Furniture was pushed to the side, the rug was rolled up, and soon Anne was in position at the piano with Henrietta's favorite medley laid in front of her. The dancers lined up expectantly, waiting for their cue like racehorses at the gate. All was still for a moment, then music burst through the silence.
The dance was energetic, and required more twists and turns than most. Wentworth swung his ever-changing partners around and around, feeling dizziness creep in. The pace was quick enough to put his pulse through its paces and trigger the beginnings of sweat along his hairline.
Stomping feet. A blur of green. Louisa's face, smiling, only to be replaced by Henrietta's as the dance switched.
Another spin, and then he was facing Anne, seated at the piano, her fingers flying over the keys.
Look at me, he thought, heart beating so hard.
But her eyes never left the sheet music, and then it was time to turn again, and Louisa Musgrove's arm hooked around his. A few more energetic bars, and the dance was finished, with all the dancers left flushed and laughing.
"Oh, Captain Wentworth, are we showing you the best time that you've had on land yet?" Louisa asked, teasing and happy.
"Yes, you certainly are." Against every atom of his will, Wentworth glanced towards Anne.
But Anne had turned towards the window once more.