Complex sentence: Anne learns from an old friend, Mrs. Smith (Helen Schlesinger), that Mr. Elliot is bankrupt and only interested in marrying Anne to help ensure his inheritance from her father and keep the baronet from possibly marrying Mrs. Clay to produce a male heir.
Split into simpler sentences: Anne learns from an old friend, Mrs. Smith (Helen Schlesinger), that Mr. Elliot is bankrupt and only interested in marrying Anne to help ensure his inheritance from her father. Anne also is told that Mr. Elliot wishes to keep the baronet from possibly marrying Mrs. Clay to produce a male heir.