provided by Joan Ellen, clearly implies that Mrs. Clay is a widow - at least Anne thinks so and I assume she knows.

"Mrs. Clay... now thought it advisable to leave the room, and Anne could have said much... in defence of her friend's not very dissimilar claims to theirs... She left it to himself to recollect that Mrs. Smith was not the only widow in Bath between thirty and forty, with little to live on, and no sirname of dignity. "