The Buccaneers

Nan is the younger sister in the family, and her social value is repeatedly measured against her older sister Virginia’s beauty and readiness for aristocratic marriage. Society figures, relatives, and even helpful intermediaries treat Nan as a secondary prospect, and this perception shapes her early view of herself. In response, Nan cultivates an identity anchored in curiosity, reading, and attention to material culture. She examines paintings and landscapes and asks questions about provenance, customs, and history. Her interest in paintings, stately houses, and local habits contrasts with Virginia’s pursuit of status through marriage. At Belfield, for example, Nan admits that she often feels “graceless,” as though she has been “slow to learn the rules” (330). She positions herself as someone who studies how things came to be, and even her susceptibility to Britain’s pastoral charms is framed as an intellectual and imaginative pursuit that has nothing to do with calculating matters of rank and income. Miss Testvalley later judges that Nan “was seduced by the Celtic gloaming of Tintagel” (390), alluding to Nan’s love of the mythic aura of Cornwall. Unique among the American newcomers, Nan harbors a deep hunger not for land or precedence, but for the historical substance of England itself.