ππππ πΈπππΎππ (thornback) wrote in sanditon,
Conversation such as theirs was a unique form of torture, but Anne trusted in her own ability to bear with it. Being raised primarily among narcissists in Kellynch Hall had produced in her a unique sort of social endurance; she called upon this endurance now to make her answer:
"Yes, thank you. Entirely agreeable."
But it would not suit, and she knew it. Her half-formed attempts at conversation bordered on rude, and it must be admitted that, deep down, Anne did not want the captain to imagine her a creature as shallow as their interchanges had necessarily become. She must endeavor to do better, and then find a way to release him without revealing all.
"I do not wonder that you chose your calling, Captain Wentworth," she went on, feeling astonishingly as if she had left her own body and was now allowing another to speak for her. "Though I do wonder how one coast must compare to another. I imagine no two are the same."
She then became silent, ashamed of herself she knew not why. Such things as 'imagination' did not factor into their established topics.
But she could not help thinking about it. So much time spent in the company of Admiral Croft and his wife had formed in Anne a certainty that she had rarely met so agreeable a couple, nor enjoyed a household so compatibly formed. The same went for Captain Harville and his wife. The women who married their officers shared in everything, it would seem, even extending to their husbands' cruises and experiences.