# IX: Fanny Changes Her Clothes explained — The Perfume of Eros

> Chapter companion for The Perfume of Eros by Edgar Saltus.

## What happens

Fanny avoids Annandale after their encounter, but he finds her on the beach. A fire breaks out at the Narragansett Casino, and Annandale heroically rescues Fanny's clothes. Later, he proposes to Fanny, and she accepts, though her mother Mrs. Price is furious, lamenting that Fanny settled for a poor man instead of a wealthy one.

## Themes in this chapter

### Social Class and Marriage

Mrs. Price's outrage at Fanny's engagement to Annandale highlights the importance of marrying for wealth and status, as she considers Annandale a 'pauper' despite his heroism.

### Love and Deception

Fanny's acceptance of Annandale's proposal is not born of love but of resignation, as she still dreams of Loftus, showing the deceptive nature of her engagement.

### Appearance vs. Reality

Annandale appears heroic for saving Fanny's clothes, but his motives are complicated by his lingering feelings for Sylvia and his desire to escape his past.

## Character check-ins

### Fanny

Fanny accepts Annandale's proposal after he rescues her clothes from the fire, though she is haunted by thoughts of Loftus.

### Arthur Annandale

Annandale rescues Fanny's clothes from the burning Casino and proposes to her, but he is conflicted about his past with Sylvia.

### Mrs. Price

Mrs. Price is furious at Fanny's engagement to Annandale, lamenting that Fanny could have made a brilliant match but settled for a pauper.

### Sylvia Waldron

Sylvia is mentioned as the woman Annandale was previously engaged to, and Mrs. Price references her as someone Fanny must write to about the engagement.

### Royal Loftus

Loftus is mentioned as the man Fanny truly loved, but he sailed away and did not care for her.

## Key lines

> But a girl like you, with your tastes, your extravagances, a girl with a national reputation for beauty, to go and accept twenty-five thousand a year is⁠—is⁠—sinful, that’s what it is.

Mrs. Price scolds Fanny for accepting a man with only twenty-five thousand a year, considering it a waste of her beauty and social standing.

_This quote illustrates the theme of social class and marriage, where financial status is paramount._

> Fanny was delicious. But he fancied that other men had found her so. He fancied that her heart had been an inn, and he knew that Sylvia’s was a home.

Annandale compares Fanny's allure to a transient inn, while Sylvia represents a stable home, showing his internal conflict.

_This quote highlights the theme of love and deception, as Annandale is torn between two women._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_perfume_of_eros_se/chapters/ix-fanny-changes-her-clothes
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_perfume_of_eros_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_perfume_of_eros_se/chapters