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Sense and Sensibility NT
Sense and Sensibility NT
Jane Austen
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Sense and Sensibility
Chapter 1
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His son was sent for as soon as his danger was known,
and to him Mr. Dashwood recommended, with all the
strength and urgency which illness could command, the
interest of his mother-in-law and sisters.
Mr. John Dashwood had not the strong feelings of the
rest of the family; but he was affected by a
recommendation of such a nature at such a time, and he
promised to do every thing in his power to make them
comfortable. His father was rendered easy by such an
assurance, and Mr. John Dashwood had then leisure to
consider how much there might prudently be in his power
to do for them.
He was not an ill-disposed young man, unless to be
rather cold hearted and rather selfish is to be ill-disposed:
but he was, in general, well respected; for he conducted
himself with propriety in the discharge of his ordinary
duties. Had he married a more amiable woman, he might
have been made still more respectable than he was:—he
might even have been made amiable himself; for he was
very young when he married, and very fond of his wife.
But Mrs. John Dashwood was a strong caricature of
himself;— more narrow-minded and selfish.
When he gave his promise to his father, he meditated
within himself to increase the fortunes of his sisters by the
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Chapter 2
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Chapter 3
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Chapter 4
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Chapter 5
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she gave one with still greater affection. Though her late
conversation with her daughter-in-law had made her
resolve on remaining at Norland no longer than was
unavoidable, it had not produced the smallest effect on her
in that point to which it principally tended. To separate
Edward and Elinor was as far from being her object as
ever; and she wished to show Mrs. John Dashwood, by
this pointed invitation to her brother, how totally she
disregarded her disapprobation of the match.
Mr. John Dashwood told his mother again and again
how exceedingly sorry he was that she had taken a house
at such a distance from Norland as to prevent his being of
any service to her in removing her furniture. He really felt
conscientiously vexed on the occasion; for the very
exertion to which he had limited the performance of his
promise to his father was by this arrangement rendered
impracticable.— The furniture was all sent around by
water. It chiefly consisted of household linen, plate, china,
and books, with a handsome pianoforte of Marianne’s.
Mrs. John Dashwood saw the packages depart with a sigh:
she could not help feeling it hard that as Mrs. Dashwood’s
income would be so trifling in comparison with their
own, she should have any handsome article of furniture.
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Chapter 6
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Chapter 7
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and thirty; but though his face was not handsome, his
countenance was sensible, and his address was particularly
gentlemanlike.
There was nothing in any of the party which could
recommend them as companions to the Dashwoods; but
the cold insipidity of Lady Middleton was so particularly
repulsive, that in comparison of it the gravity of Colonel
Brandon, and even the boisterous mirth of Sir John and
his mother-in-law was interesting. Lady Middleton
seemed to be roused to enjoyment only by the entrance of
her four noisy children after dinner, who pulled her about,
tore her clothes, and put an end to every kind of discourse
except what related to themselves.
In the evening, as Marianne was discovered to be
musical, she was invited to play. The instrument was
unlocked, every body prepared to be charmed, and
Marianne, who sang very well, at their request went
through the chief of the songs which Lady Middleton had
brought into the family on her marriage, and which
perhaps had lain ever since in the same position on the
pianoforte, for her ladyship had celebrated that event by
giving up music, although by her mother’s account, she
had played extremely well, and by her own was very fond
of it.
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Chapter 8
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Chapter 9
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‘And is that all you can say for him?’ cried Marianne,
indignantly. ‘But what are his manners on more intimate
acquaintance? What his pursuits, his talents, and genius?’
Sir John was rather puzzled.
‘Upon my soul,’ said he, ‘I do not know much about
him as to all THAT. But he is a pleasant, good humoured
fellow, and has got the nicest little black bitch of a pointer
I ever saw. Was she out with him today?’
But Marianne could no more satisfy him as to the
colour of Mr. Willoughby’s pointer, than he could
describe to her the shades of his mind.
‘But who is he?’ said Elinor. ‘Where does he come
from? Has he a house at Allenham?’
On this point Sir John could give more certain
intelligence; and he told them that Mr. Willoughby had
no property of his own in the country; that he resided
there only while he was visiting the old lady at Allenham
Court, to whom he was related, and whose possessions he
was to inherit; adding, ‘Yes, yes, he is very well worth
catching I can tell you, Miss Dashwood; he has a pretty
little estate of his own in Somersetshire besides; and if I
were you, I would not give him up to my younger sister,
in spite of all this tumbling down hills. Miss Marianne
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Chapter 10
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Chapter 11
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Chapter 12
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the proprietor, who was then abroad, had left strict orders
on that head. The grounds were declared to be highly
beautiful, and Sir John, who was particularly warm in their
praise, might be allowed to be a tolerable judge, for he had
formed parties to visit them, at least, twice every summer
for the last ten years. They contained a noble piece of
water; a sail on which was to a form a great part of the
morning’s amusement; cold provisions were to be taken,
open carriages only to be employed, and every thing
conducted in the usual style of a complete party of
pleasure.
To some few of the company it appeared rather a bold
undertaking, considering the time of year, and that it had
rained every day for the last fortnight;— and Mrs.
Dashwood, who had already a cold, was persuaded by
Elinor to stay at home.
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Chapter 13
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‘Oh, yes; and as like him as she can stare. I dare say the
Colonel will leave her all his fortune.’
When Sir John returned, he joined most heartily in the
general regret on so unfortunate an event; concluding
however by observing, that as they were all got together,
they must do something by way of being happy; and after
some consultation it was agreed, that although happiness
could only be enjoyed at Whitwell, they might procure a
tolerable composure of mind by driving about the
country. The carriages were then ordered; Willoughby’s
was first, and Marianne never looked happier than when
she got into it. He drove through the park very fast, and
they were soon out of sight; and nothing more of them
was seen till their return, which did not happen till after
the return of all the rest. They both seemed delighted with
their drive; but said only in general terms that they had
kept in the lanes, while the others went on the downs.
It was settled that there should be a dance in the
evening, and that every body should be extremely merry
all day long. Some more of the Careys came to dinner,
and they had the pleasure of sitting down nearly twenty to
table, which Sir John observed with great contentment.
Willoughby took his usual place between the two elder
Miss Dashwoods. Mrs. Jennings sat on Elinor’s right hand;
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and they had not been long seated, before she leant behind
her and Willoughby, and said to Marianne, loud enough
for them both to hear, ‘I have found you out in spite of all
your tricks. I know where you spent the morning.’
Marianne coloured, and replied very hastily, ‘Where,
pray?’—
‘Did not you know,’ said Willoughby, ‘that we had
been out in my curricle?’
‘Yes, yes, Mr. Impudence, I know that very well, and I
was determined to find out WHERE you had been to.—
I hope you like your house, Miss Marianne. It is a very
large one, I know; and when I come to see you, I hope
you will have new-furnished it, for it wanted it very much
when I was there six years ago.’
Marianne turned away in great confusion. Mrs.
Jennings laughed heartily; and Elinor found that in her
resolution to know where they had been, she had actually
made her own woman enquire of Mr. Willoughby’s
groom; and that she had by that method been informed
that they had gone to Allenham, and spent a considerable
time there in walking about the garden and going all over
the house.
Elinor could hardly believe this to be true, as it seemed
very unlikely that Willoughby should propose, or
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Chapter 14
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Chapter 15
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Chapter 16
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Chapter 17
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Chapter 18
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Chapter 19
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that the ceiling was crooked. He then made his bow, and
departed with the rest.
Sir John had been very urgent with them all to spend
the next day at the park. Mrs. Dashwood, who did not
chuse to dine with them oftener than they dined at the
cottage, absolutely refused on her own account; her
daughters might do as they pleased. But they had no
curiosity to see how Mr. and Mrs. Palmer ate their dinner,
and no expectation of pleasure from them in any other
way. They attempted, therefore, likewise, to excuse
themselves; the weather was uncertain, and not likely to
be good. But Sir John would not be satisfied—the carriage
should be sent for them and they must come. Lady
Middleton too, though she did not press their mother,
pressed them. Mrs. Jennings and Mrs. Palmer joined their
entreaties, all seemed equally anxious to avoid a family
party; and the young ladies were obliged to yield.
‘Why should they ask us?’ said Marianne, as soon as
they were gone. ‘The rent of this cottage is said to be low;
but we have it on very hard terms, if we are to dine at the
park whenever any one is staying either with them, or
with us.’
‘They mean no less to be civil and kind to us now,’ said
Elinor, ‘by these frequent invitations, than by those which
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Chapter 20
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‘My love you contradict every body,’ said his wife with
her usual laugh. ‘Do you know that you are quite rude?’
‘I did not know I contradicted any body in calling your
mother ill-bred.’
‘Ay, you may abuse me as you please,’ said the good-
natured old lady, ‘you have taken Charlotte off my hands,
and cannot give her back again. So there I have the whip
hand of you.’
Charlotte laughed heartily to think that her husband
could not get rid of her; and exultingly said, she did not
care how cross he was to her, as they must live together. It
was impossible for any one to be more thoroughly good-
natured, or more determined to be happy than Mrs.
Palmer. The studied indifference, insolence, and
discontent of her husband gave her no pain; and when he
scolded or abused her, she was highly diverted.
‘Mr. Palmer is so droll!’ said she, in a whisper, to
Elinor. ‘He is always out of humour.’
Elinor was not inclined, after a little observation, to
give him credit for being so genuinely and unaffectedly ill-
natured or ill-bred as he wished to appear. His temper
might perhaps be a little soured by finding, like many
others of his sex, that through some unaccountable bias in
favour of beauty, he was the husband of a very silly
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Chapter 21
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Exeter; but you know, how could I tell what smart beaux
there might be about Norland; and I was only afraid the
Miss Dashwoods might find it dull at Barton, if they had
not so many as they used to have. But perhaps you young
ladies may not care about the beaux, and had as lief be
without them as with them. For my part, I think they are
vastly agreeable, provided they dress smart and behave
civil. But I can’t bear to see them dirty and nasty. Now
there’s Mr. Rose at Exeter, a prodigious smart young man,
quite a beau, clerk to Mr. Simpson, you know, and yet if
you do but meet him of a morning, he is not fit to be
seen.— I suppose your brother was quite a beau, Miss
Dashwood, before he married, as he was so rich?’
‘Upon my word,’ replied Elinor, ‘I cannot tell you, for
I do not perfectly comprehend the meaning of the word.
But this I can say, that if he ever was a beau before he
married, he is one still for there is not the smallest
alteration in him.’
‘Oh! dear! one never thinks of married men’s being
beaux—they have something else to do.’
‘Lord! Anne,’ cried her sister, ‘you can talk of nothing
but beaux;—you will make Miss Dashwood believe you
think of nothing else.’ And then to turn the discourse, she
began admiring the house and the furniture.
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Chapter 22
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Chapter 23
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Chapter 24
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Chapter 25
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Chapter 26
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him there; and Elinor was resolved not only upon gaining
every new light as to his character which her own
observation or the intelligence of others could give her,
but likewise upon watching his behaviour to her sister
with such zealous attention, as to ascertain what he was
and what he meant, before many meetings had taken
place. Should the result of her observations be
unfavourable, she was determined at all events to open the
eyes of her sister; should it be otherwise, her exertions
would be of a different nature—she must then learn to
avoid every selfish comparison, and banish every regret
which might lessen her satisfaction in the happiness of
Marianne.
They were three days on their journey, and Marianne’s
behaviour as they travelled was a happy specimen of what
future complaisance and companionableness to Mrs.
Jennings might be expected to be. She sat in silence almost
all the way, wrapt in her own meditations, and scarcely
ever voluntarily speaking, except when any object of
picturesque beauty within their view drew from her an
exclamation of delight exclusively addressed to her sister.
To atone for this conduct therefore, Elinor took
immediate possession of the post of civility which she had
assigned herself, behaved with the greatest attention to
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of what was passing. The tea things were brought in, and
already had Marianne been disappointed more than once
by a rap at a neighbouring door, when a loud one was
suddenly heard which could not be mistaken for one at
any other house, Elinor felt secure of its announcing
Willoughby’s approach, and Marianne, starting up, moved
towards the door. Every thing was silent; this could not be
borne many seconds; she opened the door, advanced a few
steps towards the stairs, and after listening half a minute,
returned into the room in all the agitation which a
conviction of having heard him would naturally produce;
in the ecstasy of her feelings at that instant she could not
help exclaiming, ‘Oh, Elinor, it is Willoughby, indeed it
is!’ and seemed almost ready to throw herself into his arms,
when Colonel Brandon appeared.
It was too great a shock to be borne with calmness, and
she immediately left the room. Elinor was disappointed
too; but at the same time her regard for Colonel Brandon
ensured his welcome with her; and she felt particularly
hurt that a man so partial to her sister should perceive that
she experienced nothing but grief and disappointment in
seeing him. She instantly saw that it was not unnoticed by
him, that he even observed Marianne as she quitted the
room, with such astonishment and concern, as hardly left
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Chapter 27
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Chapter 28
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Chapter 29
Before the house-maid had lit their fire the next day, or
the sun gained any power over a cold, gloomy morning in
January, Marianne, only half dressed, was kneeling against
one of the window-seats for the sake of all the little light
she could command from it, and writing as fast as a
continual flow of tears would permit her. In this situation,
Elinor, roused from sleep by her agitation and sobs, first
perceived her; and after observing her for a few moments
with silent anxiety, said, in a tone of the most considerate
gentleness,
‘Marianne, may I ask-?’
‘No, Elinor,’ she replied, ‘ask nothing; you will soon
know all.’
The sort of desperate calmness with which this was
said, lasted no longer than while she spoke, and was
immediately followed by a return of the same excessive
affliction. It was some minutes before she could go on
with her letter, and the frequent bursts of grief which still
obliged her, at intervals, to withhold her pen, were proofs
enough of her feeling how more than probable it was that
she was writing for the last time to Willoughby.
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more; and I must beg, therefore, that you will not deceive
yourself any longer. I do assure you that nothing would
surprise me more than to hear of their being going to be
married.’
‘For shame, for shame, Miss Dashwood! how can you
talk so? Don’t we all know that it must be a match, that
they were over head and ears in love with each other from
the first moment they met? Did not I see them together in
Devonshire every day, and all day long; and did not I
know that your sister came to town with me on purpose
to buy wedding clothes? Come, come, this won’t do.
Because you are so sly about it yourself, you think nobody
else has any senses; but it is no such thing, I can tell you,
for it has been known all over town this ever so long. I tell
every body of it and so does Charlotte.’
‘Indeed, Ma’am,’ said Elinor, very seriously, ‘you are
mistaken. Indeed, you are doing a very unkind thing in
spreading the report, and you will find that you have
though you will not believe me now.’
Mrs. Jennings laughed again, but Elinor had not spirits
to say more, and eager at all events to know what
Willoughby had written, hurried away to their room,
where, on opening the door, she saw Marianne stretched
on the bed, almost choked by grief, one letter in her hand,
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called less than insulting; but though I have not yet been
able to form any reasonable apology for your behaviour, I
am perfectly ready to hear your justification of it. You
have perhaps been misinformed, or purposely deceived, in
something concerning me, which may have lowered me
in your opinion. Tell me what it is, explain the grounds
on which you acted, and I shall be satisfied, in being able
to satisfy you. It would grieve me indeed to be obliged to
think ill of you; but if I am to do it, if I am to learn that
you are not what we have hitherto believed you, that your
regard for us all was insincere, that your behaviour to me
was intended only to deceive, let it be told as soon as
possible. My feelings are at present in a state of dreadful
indecision; I wish to acquit you, but certainty on either
side will be ease to what I now suffer. If your sentiments
are no longer what they were, you will return my notes,
and the lock of my hair which is in your possession.
‘M.D.’
That such letters, so full of affection and confidence,
could have been so answered, Elinor, for Willoughby’s
sake, would have been unwilling to believe. But her
condemnation of him did not blind her to the impropriety
of their having been written at all; and she was silently
grieving over the imprudence which had hazarded such
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is not the only young man in the world worth having; and
with your pretty face you will never want admirers. Well,
poor thing! I won’t disturb her any longer, for she had
better have her cry out at once and have done with. The
Parrys and Sandersons luckily are coming tonight you
know, and that will amuse her.’
She then went away, walking on tiptoe out of the
room, as if she supposed her young friend’s affliction could
be increased by noise.
Marianne, to the surprise of her sister, determined on
dining with them. Elinor even advised her against it. But
‘no, she would go down; she could bear it very well, and
the bustle about her would be less.’ Elinor, pleased to have
her governed for a moment by such a motive, though
believing it hardly possible that she could sit out the
dinner, said no more; and adjusting her dress for her as
well as she could, while Marianne still remained on the
bed, was ready to assist her into the dining room as soon as
they were summoned to it.
When there, though looking most wretchedly, she ate
more and was calmer than her sister had expected. Had
she tried to speak, or had she been conscious of half Mrs.
Jennings’s well-meant but ill-judged attentions to her, this
calmness could not have been maintained; but not a
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his horses, let his house, turn off his servants, and make a
thorough reform at once? I warrant you, Miss Marianne
would have been ready to wait till matters came round.
But that won’t do now-a-days; nothing in the way of
pleasure can ever be given up by the young men of this
age.’
‘Do you know what kind of a girl Miss Grey is? Is she
said to be amiable?’
‘I never heard any harm of her; indeed I hardly ever
heard her mentioned; except that Mrs. Taylor did say this
morning, that one day Miss Walker hinted to her, that she
believed Mr. and Mrs. Ellison would not be sorry to have
Miss Grey married, for she and Mrs. Ellison could never
agree.’—
‘And who are the Ellisons?’
‘Her guardians, my dear. But now she is of age and
may choose for herself; and a pretty choice she has
made!—What now,’ after pausing a moment—‘your poor
sister is gone to her own room, I suppose, to moan by
herself. Is there nothing one can get to comfort her? Poor
dear, it seems quite cruel to let her be alone. Well, by-
and-by we shall have a few friends, and that will amuse
her a little. What shall we play at? She hates whist I know;
but is there no round game she cares for?’
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all the carriages that pass along. Oh! ‘tis a nice place! A
butcher hard by in the village, and the parsonage-house
within a stone’s throw. To my fancy, a thousand times
prettier than Barton Park, where they are forced to send
three miles for their meat, and have not a neighbour
nearer than your mother. Well, I shall spirit up the
Colonel as soon as I can. One shoulder of mutton, you
know, drives another down. If we CAN but put
Willoughby out of her head!’
‘Ay, if we can do THAT, Ma’am,’ said Elinor, ‘we
shall do very well with or without Colonel Brandon.’ And
then rising, she went away to join Marianne, whom she
found, as she expected, in her own room, leaning, in silent
misery, over the small remains of a fire, which, till Elinor’s
entrance, had been her only light.
‘You had better leave me,’ was all the notice that her
sister received from her.
‘I will leave you,’ said Elinor, ‘if you will go to bed.’
But this, from the momentary perverseness of impatient
suffering, she at first refused to do. Her sister’s earnest,
though gentle persuasion, however, soon softened her to
compliance, and Elinor saw her lay her aching head on the
pillow, and as she hoped, in a way to get some quiet rest
before she left her.
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‘It is. But have you likewise heard that Miss Grey has
fifty thousand pounds? In that, if in any thing, we may
find an explanation.’
‘It may be so; but Willoughby is capable—at least I
think’—he stopped a moment; then added in a voice
which seemed to distrust itself, ‘And your sister— how did
she—‘
‘Her sufferings have been very severe. I have only to
hope that they may be proportionately short. It has been,
it is a most cruel affliction. Till yesterday, I believe, she
never doubted his regard; and even now, perhaps—but I
am almost convinced that he never was really attached to
her. He has been very deceitful! and, in some points, there
seems a hardness of heart about him.’
‘Ah!’ said Colonel Brandon, ‘there is, indeed! But your
sister does not—I think you said so—she does not
consider quite as you do?’
‘You know her disposition, and may believe how
eagerly she would still justify him if she could.’
He made no answer; and soon afterwards, by the
removal of the tea-things, and the arrangement of the card
parties, the subject was necessarily dropped. Mrs. Jennings,
who had watched them with pleasure while they were
talking, and who expected to see the effect of Miss
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‘No, no, no, it cannot be,’ she cried; ‘she cannot feel.
Her kindness is not sympathy; her good-nature is not
tenderness. All that she wants is gossip, and she only likes
me now because I supply it.’
Elinor had not needed this to be assured of the injustice
to which her sister was often led in her opinion of others,
by the irritable refinement of her own mind, and the too
great importance placed by her on the delicacies of a
strong sensibility, and the graces of a polished manner.
Like half the rest of the world, if more than half there be
that are clever and good, Marianne, with excellent abilities
and an excellent disposition, was neither reasonable nor
candid. She expected from other people the same opinions
and feelings as her own, and she judged of their motives
by the immediate effect of their actions on herself. Thus a
circumstance occurred, while the sisters were together in
their own room after breakfast, which sunk the heart of
Mrs. Jennings still lower in her estimation; because,
through her own weakness, it chanced to prove a source
of fresh pain to herself, though Mrs. Jennings was
governed in it by an impulse of the utmost goodwill.
With a letter in her outstretched hand, and
countenance gaily smiling, from the persuasion of bringing
comfort, she entered their room, saying,
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too far, and the blow was a severe one— but had her
marriage been happy, so young as I then was, a few
months must have reconciled me to it, or at least I should
not have now to lament it. This however was not the case.
My brother had no regard for her; his pleasures were not
what they ought to have been, and from the first he
treated her unkindly. The consequence of this, upon a
mind so young, so lively, so inexperienced as Mrs.
Brandon’s, was but too natural. She resigned herself at first
to all the misery of her situation; and happy had it been if
she had not lived to overcome those regrets which the
remembrance of me occasioned. But can we wonder that,
with such a husband to provoke inconstancy, and without
a friend to advise or restrain her (for my father lived only a
few months after their marriage, and I was with my
regiment in the East Indies) she should fall? Had I
remained in England, perhaps—but I meant to promote
the happiness of both by removing from her for years, and
for that purpose had procured my exchange. The shock
which her marriage had given me,’ he continued, in a
voice of great agitation, ‘was of trifling weight—was
nothing to what I felt when I heard, about two years
afterwards, of her divorce. It was THAT which threw this
gloom,—even now the recollection of what I suffered—‘
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its advantage; for neither Mrs. Jennings, nor Sir John, nor
even Mrs. Palmer herself, ever spoke of him before her.
Elinor wished that the same forbearance could have
extended towards herself, but that was impossible, and she
was obliged to listen day after day to the indignation of
them all.
Sir John, could not have thought it possible. ‘A man of
whom he had always had such reason to think well! Such
a good-natured fellow! He did not believe there was a
bolder rider in England! It was an unaccountable business.
He wished him at the devil with all his heart. He would
not speak another word to him, meet him where he
might, for all the world! No, not if it were to be by the
side of Barton covert, and they were kept watching for
two hours together. Such a scoundrel of a fellow! such a
deceitful dog! It was only the last time they met that he
had offered him one of Folly’s puppies! and this was the
end of it!’
Mrs. Palmer, in her way, was equally angry. ‘She was
determined to drop his acquaintance immediately, and she
was very thankful that she had never been acquainted with
him at all. She wished with all her heart Combe Magna
was not so near Cleveland; but it did not signify, for it was
a great deal too far off to visit; she hated him so much that
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she was resolved never to mention his name again, and she
should tell everybody she saw, how good-for-nothing he
was.’
The rest of Mrs. Palmer’s sympathy was shewn in
procuring all the particulars in her power of the
approaching marriage, and communicating them to Elinor.
She could soon tell at what coachmaker’s the new carriage
was building, by what painter Mr. Willoughby’s portrait
was drawn, and at what warehouse Miss Grey’s clothes
might be seen.
The calm and polite unconcern of Lady Middleton on
the occasion was a happy relief to Elinor’s spirits,
oppressed as they often were by the clamorous kindness of
the others. It was a great comfort to her to be sure of
exciting no interest in ONE person at least among their
circle of friends: a great comfort to know that there was
ONE who would meet her without feeling any curiosity
after particulars, or any anxiety for her sister’s health.
Every qualification is raised at times, by the
circumstances of the moment, to more than its real value;
and she was sometimes worried down by officious
condolence to rate good-breeding as more indispensable
to comfort than good-nature.
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pleased that he had called; and still more pleased that she
had missed him.
The Dashwoods were so prodigiously delighted with
the Middletons, that, though not much in the habit of
giving anything, they determined to give them— a dinner;
and soon after their acquaintance began, invited them to
dine in Harley Street, where they had taken a very good
house for three months. Their sisters and Mrs. Jennings
were invited likewise, and John Dashwood was careful to
secure Colonel Brandon, who, always glad to be where
the Miss Dashwoods were, received his eager civilities
with some surprise, but much more pleasure. They were
to meet Mrs. Ferrars; but Elinor could not learn whether
her sons were to be of the party. The expectation of
seeing HER, however, was enough to make her interested
in the engagement; for though she could now meet
Edward’s mother without that strong anxiety which had
once promised to attend such an introduction, though she
could now see her with perfect indifference as to her
opinion of herself, her desire of being in company with
Mrs. Ferrars, her curiosity to know what she was like, was
as lively as ever.
The interest with which she thus anticipated the party,
was soon afterwards increased, more powerfully than
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Her exertions did not stop here; for she soon afterwards
felt herself so heroically disposed as to determine, under
pretence of fetching Marianne, to leave the others by
themselves; and she really did it, and THAT in the
handsomest manner, for she loitered away several minutes
on the landing-place, with the most high-minded
fortitude, before she went to her sister. When that was
once done, however, it was time for the raptures of
Edward to cease; for Marianne’s joy hurried her into the
drawing-room immediately. Her pleasure in seeing him
was like every other of her feelings, strong in itself, and
strongly spoken. She met him with a hand that would be
taken, and a voice that expressed the affection of a sister.
‘Dear Edward!’ she cried, ‘this is a moment of great
happiness!—This would almost make amends for every
thing?’
Edward tried to return her kindness as it deserved, but
before such witnesses he dared not say half what he really
felt. Again they all sat down, and for a moment or two all
were silent; while Marianne was looking with the most
speaking tenderness, sometimes at Edward and sometimes
at Elinor, regretting only that their delight in each other
should be checked by Lucy’s unwelcome presence.
Edward was the first to speak, and it was to notice
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‘Why so?—we were all his friends, and Lucy has been
the longest known to him of any. It is but natural that he
should like to see her as well as ourselves.’
Marianne looked at her steadily, and said, ‘You know,
Elinor, that this is a kind of talking which I cannot bear. If
you only hope to have your assertion contradicted, as I
must suppose to be the case, you ought to recollect that I
am the last person in the world to do it. I cannot descend
to be tricked out of assurances, that are not really wanted.’
She then left the room; and Elinor dared not follow her
to say more, for bound as she was by her promise of
secrecy to Lucy, she could give no information that would
convince Marianne; and painful as the consequences of her
still continuing in an error might be, she was obliged to
submit to it. All that she could hope, was that Edward
would not often expose her or himself to the distress of
hearing Marianne’s mistaken warmth, nor to the repetition
of any other part of the pain that had attended their recent
meeting—and this she had every reason to expect.
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could have done, that he was exactly the coxcomb she had
heard him described to be by Lucy. Happy had it been for
her, if her regard for Edward had depended less on his
own merit, than on the merit of his nearest relations! For
then his brother’s bow must have given the finishing
stroke to what the ill-humour of his mother and sister
would have begun. But while she wondered at the
difference of the two young men, she did not find that the
emptiness of conceit of the one, put her out of all charity
with the modesty and worth of the other. Why they
WERE different, Robert exclaimed to her himself in the
course of a quarter of an hour’s conversation; for, talking
of his brother, and lamenting the extreme GAUCHERIE
which he really believed kept him from mixing in proper
society, he candidly and generously attributed it much less
to any natural deficiency, than to the misfortune of a
private education; while he himself, though probably
without any particular, any material superiority by nature,
merely from the advantage of a public school, was as well
fitted to mix in the world as any other man.
‘Upon my soul,’ he added, ‘I believe it is nothing
more; and so I often tell my mother, when she is grieving
about it. ‘My dear Madam,’ I always say to her, ‘you must
make yourself easy. The evil is now irremediable, and it
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without betraying that she felt any uneasiness for her sister,
or any resentment against Edward.
Elinor’s office was a painful one.—She was going to
remove what she really believed to be her sister’s chief
consolation,—to give such particulars of Edward as she
feared would ruin him for ever in her good opinion,-and
to make Marianne, by a resemblance in their situations,
which to HER fancy would seem strong, feel all her own
disappointment over again. But unwelcome as such a task
must be, it was necessary to be done, and Elinor therefore
hastened to perform it.
She was very far from wishing to dwell on her own
feelings, or to represent herself as suffering much, any
otherwise than as the self-command she had practised
since her first knowledge of Edward’s engagement, might
suggest a hint of what was practicable to Marianne. Her
narration was clear and simple; and though it could not be
given without emotion, it was not accompanied by violent
agitation, nor impetuous grief.—THAT belonged rather
to the hearer, for Marianne listened with horror, and cried
excessively. Elinor was to be the comforter of others in
her own distresses, no less than in theirs; and all the
comfort that could be given by assurances of her own
composure of mind, and a very earnest vindication of
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to talk over the dreadful affair, and bring them news of his
wife.
‘You have heard, I suppose,’ said he with great
solemnity, as soon as he was seated, ‘of the very shocking
discovery that took place under our roof yesterday.’
They all looked their assent; it seemed too awful a
moment for speech.
‘Your sister,’ he continued, ‘has suffered dreadfully.
Mrs. Ferrars too—in short it has been a scene of such
complicated distress—but I will hope that the storm may
be weathered without our being any of us quite
overcome. Poor Fanny! she was in hysterics all yesterday.
But I would not alarm you too much. Donavan says there
is nothing materially to be apprehended; her constitution
is a good one, and her resolution equal to any thing. She
has borne it all, with the fortitude of an angel! She says she
never shall think well of anybody again; and one cannot
wonder at it, after being so deceived!— meeting with such
ingratitude, where so much kindness had been shewn, so
much confidence had been placed! It was quite out of the
benevolence of her heart, that she had asked these young
women to her house; merely because she thought they
deserved some attention, were harmless, well-behaved
girls, and would be pleasant companions; for otherwise we
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know, and all that—Oh, la! one can’t repeat such kind of
things you know)—she told him directly, she had not the
least mind in the world to be off, for she could live with
him upon a trifle, and how little so ever he might have,
she should be very glad to have it all, you know, or
something of the kind. So then he was monstrous happy,
and talked on some time about what they should do, and
they agreed he should take orders directly, and they must
wait to be married till he got a living. And just then I
could not hear any more, for my cousin called from below
to tell me Mrs. Richardson was come in her coach, and
would take one of us to Kensington Gardens; so I was
forced to go into the room and interrupt them, to ask
Lucy if she would like to go, but she did not care to leave
Edward; so I just run up stairs and put on a pair of silk
stockings and came off with the Richardsons.’
‘I do not understand what you mean by interrupting
them,’ said Elinor; ‘you were all in the same room
together, were not you?’
‘No, indeed, not us. La! Miss Dashwood, do you think
people make love when any body else is by? Oh, for
shame!—To be sure you must know better than that.
(Laughing affectedly.)—No, no; they were shut up in the
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looked for. And for my part, I was all in a fright for fear
your sister should ask us for the huswifes she had gave us a
day or two before; but, however, nothing was said about
them, and I took care to keep mine out of sight. Edward
have got some business at Oxford, he says; so he must go
there for a time; and after THAT, as soon as he can light
upon a Bishop, he will be ordained. I wonder what curacy
he will get!—Good gracious! (giggling as she spoke) I’d lay
my life I know what my cousins will say, when they hear
of it. They will tell me I should write to the Doctor, to
get Edward the curacy of his new living. I know they will;
but I am sure I would not do such a thing for all the
world.— ‘La!’ I shall say directly, ‘I wonder how you
could think of such a thing? I write to the Doctor,
indeed!’’
‘Well,’ said Elinor, ‘it is a comfort to be prepared
against the worst. You have got your answer ready.’
Miss Steele was going to reply on the same subject, but
the approach of her own party made another more
necessary.
‘Oh, la! here come the Richardsons. I had a vast deal
more to say to you, but I must not stay away from them
not any longer. I assure you they are very genteel people.
He makes a monstrous deal of money, and they keep their
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will not forget us, and dear Mrs. Jennings too, trust she
will speak a good word for us to Sir John, or Mr. Palmer,
or any friend that may be able to assist us.—Poor Anne
was much to blame for what she did, but she did it for the
best, so I say nothing; hope Mrs. Jennings won’t think it
too much trouble to give us a call, should she come this
way any morning, ‘twould be a great kindness, and my
cousins would be proud to know her.—My paper reminds
me to conclude; and begging to be most gratefully and
respectfully remembered to her, and to Sir John, and Lady
Middleton, and the dear children, when you chance to see
them, and love to Miss Marianne,
‘I am, &c.’
As soon as Elinor had finished it, she performed what
she concluded to be its writer’s real design, by placing it in
the hands of Mrs. Jennings, who read it aloud with many
comments of satisfaction and praise.
‘Very well indeed!—how prettily she writes!—aye, that
was quite proper to let him be off if he would. That was
just like Lucy.—Poor soul! I wish I COULD get him a
living, with all my heart.—She calls me dear Mrs.
Jennings, you see. She is a good-hearted girl as ever
lived.—Very well upon my word. That sentence is very
prettily turned. Yes, yes, I will go and see her, sure
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Chapter 20
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Chapter 41
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means might have been found. But now it is all too late.
He must be starved, you know;— that is certain;
absolutely starved.’
He had just settled this point with great composure,
when the entrance of Mrs. John Dashwood put an end to
the subject. But though SHE never spoke of it out of her
own family, Elinor could see its influence on her mind, in
the something like confusion of countenance with which
she entered, and an attempt at cordiality in her behaviour
to herself. She even proceeded so far as to be concerned to
find that Elinor and her sister were so soon to leave town,
as she had hoped to see more of them;—an exertion in
which her husband, who attended her into the room, and
hung enamoured over her accents, seemed to distinguish
every thing that was most affectionate and graceful.
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Chapter 43
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to her the place of the mother she had taken her from; and
Elinor found her on every occasion a most willing and
active helpmate, desirous to share in all her fatigues, and
often by her better experience in nursing, of material use.
Poor Marianne, languid and low from the nature of her
malady, and feeling herself universally ill, could no longer
hope that tomorrow would find her recovered; and the
idea of what tomorrow would have produced, but for this
unlucky illness, made every ailment severe; for on that day
they were to have begun their journey home; and,
attended the whole way by a servant of Mrs. Jennings,
were to have taken their mother by surprise on the
following forenoon. The little she said was all in
lamentation of this inevitable delay; though Elinor tried to
raise her spirits, and make her believe, as she THEN really
believed herself, that it would be a very short one.
The next day produced little or no alteration in the
state of the patient; she certainly was not better, and,
except that there was no amendment, did not appear
worse. Their party was now farther reduced; for Mr.
Palmer, though very unwilling to go as well from real
humanity and good-nature, as from a dislike of appearing
to be frightened away by his wife, was persuaded at last by
Colonel Brandon to perform his promise of following her;
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had other claims. She had been for three months her
companion, was still under her care, and she was known
to have been greatly injured, and long unhappy. The
distress of her sister too, particularly a favourite, was before
her;—and as for their mother, when Mrs. Jennings
considered that Marianne might probably be to HER
what Charlotte was to herself, her sympathy in HER
sufferings was very sincere.
Mr. Harris was punctual in his second visit;— but he
came to be disappointed in his hopes of what the last
would produce. His medicines had failed;—the fever was
unabated; and Marianne only more quiet—not more
herself—remained in a heavy stupor. Elinor, catching all,
and more than all, his fears in a moment, proposed to call
in further advice. But he judged it unnecessary: he had still
something more to try, some more fresh application, of
whose success he was as confident as the last, and his visit
concluded with encouraging assurances which reached the
ear, but could not enter the heart of Miss Dashwood. She
was calm, except when she thought of her mother; but she
was almost hopeless; and in this state she continued till
noon, scarcely stirring from her sister’s bed, her thoughts
wandering from one image of grief, one suffering friend to
another, and her spirits oppressed to the utmost by the
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Chapter 44
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across her. But she had promised to hear him, and her
curiosity no less than her honor was engaged. After a
moment’s recollection, therefore, concluding that
prudence required dispatch, and that her acquiescence
would best promote it, she walked silently towards the
table, and sat down. He took the opposite chair, and for
half a minute not a word was said by either.
‘Pray be quick, sir,’—said Elinor, impatiently;— ‘I have
no time to spare.’
He was sitting in an attitude of deep meditation, and
seemed not to hear her.
‘Your sister,’ said he, with abruptness, a moment
afterwards—‘is out of danger. I heard it from the servant.
God be praised!—But is it true? is it really true?’
Elinor would not speak. He repeated the inquiry with
yet greater eagerness.
‘For God’s sake tell me, is she out of danger, or is she
not?’
‘We hope she is.’
He rose up, and walked across the room.
‘Had I known as much half an hour ago—But since I
AM here,’—speaking with a forced vivacity as he returned
to his seat—‘what does it signify?—For once, Miss
Dashwood—it will be the last time, perhaps—let us be
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Chapter 45
Elinor, for some time after he left her, for some time
even after the sound of his carriage had died away,
remained too much oppressed by a crowd of ideas, widely
differing in themselves, but of which sadness was the
general result, to think even of her sister.
Willoughby, he, whom only half an hour ago she had
abhorred as the most worthless of men, Willoughby, in
spite of all his faults, excited a degree of commiseration for
the sufferings produced by them, which made her think of
him as now separated for ever from her family, with a
tenderness, a regret, rather in proportion, as she soon
acknowledged within herself—to his wishes than to his
merits. She felt that his influence over her mind was
heightened by circumstances which ought not in reason to
have weight; by that person of uncommon attraction, that
open, affectionate, and lively manner which it was no
merit to possess; and by that still ardent love for Marianne,
which it was not even innocent to indulge. But she felt
that it was so, long, long before she could feel his
influence less.
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thoughts; she would not but have heard his vindication for
the world, and now blamed, now acquitted herself for
having judged him so harshly before. But her promise of
relating it to her sister was invariably painful. She dreaded
the performance of it, dreaded what its effect on Marianne
might be; doubted whether after such an explanation she
could ever be happy with another; and for a moment
wished Willoughby a widower. Then, remembering
Colonel Brandon, reproved herself, felt that to HIS
sufferings and his constancy far more than to his rival’s, the
reward of her sister was due, and wished any thing rather
than Mrs. Willoughby’s death.
The shock of Colonel Brandon’s errand at Barton had
been much softened to Mrs. Dashwood by her own
previous alarm; for so great was her uneasiness about
Marianne, that she had already determined to set out for
Cleveland on that very day, without waiting for any
further intelligence, and had so far settled her journey
before his arrival, that the Careys were then expected
every moment to fetch Margaret away, as her mother was
unwilling to take her where there might be infection.
Marianne continued to mend every day, and the
brilliant cheerfulness of Mrs. Dashwood’s looks and spirits
proved her to be, as she repeatedly declared herself, one of
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Chapter 50
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THE END
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