Sense and Sensibility

Edward stays with the Dashwoods a week and seems to be leaving just as he is beginning to enjoy himself. Mrs. Dashwood boldly proposes that he might be happier if he settles into a profession. He confesses that his primary choice of profession, the church, is not glamorous enough for his mother and sister.

Elinor experiences difficult feelings at Edward’s departure. However, she is determined to subdue to her gloom, adopting the opposite of Marianne’s method of getting over heartache. Instead of being idle and solitary, she busies herself at her drawing table and acts calm whenever Edward’s name is mentioned. Privately, Elinor finds that no matter how much she busies herself, thoughts of Edward persist. While Marianne disapproves of Elinor's moderation of her feelings, she is surprised that she still loves and respects Elinor as much as ever.

While Elinor is in a reverie about Edward and her mother and sister are out, Sir John, Lady Middleton and Mrs. Jennings visit Barton Cottage with the Palmers. While Mr. Palmer is stern and cynical, Mrs. Jennings’ daughter, Mrs. Palmer, is light-hearted and prone to gossip. Marianne is unimpressed when she returns to find the company, considering it unfair that they must tolerate the society of Barton Park in exchange for their low rent.

Mrs. Palmer is glad to see Elinor and Marianne. She warmly asks them to come to London for the winter. They decline the offer as they cannot afford it.

Sir John makes the sly comment that the bad weather must have prevented Marianne's customary walk to Allenham. Mrs. Palmer indicates that a potential engagement between Marianne and Willoughby is the talk of the town. She also betrays that Willoughby’s estate at Combe Magna is not far from their own and that he is hardly ever there. Elinor tries to gain more information about Willoughby, confirming that she is unaware of any engagement between him and her sister. Mrs. Palmer claims that Colonel Brandon told her of it, but in fact Mrs. Palmer is the one who gossiped to Colonel Brandon. In response, the colonel “did not say much; but he looked as if he knew it to be true” (133). Mrs. Palmer reveals that Mrs. Jennings has spread the rumor of Colonel Brandon’s being in love with Marianne. This ought to be considered a compliment as the colonel does not fall in love easily.

As Mrs. Palmer begs the Dashwood sisters to come to London, Elinor observes with discomfort that Mr. Palmer treats his wife with cynical contempt. She sees that Mr. Palmer was taken in by her beauty and now resents her silliness. Mrs. Palmer laughs off his slights and deludes herself into thinking that Mr. Palmer is the perfect husband.

Mrs. Jennings and the Middletons insist that the Dashwoods come to Barton Park and make the acquaintance of Mrs. Jennings’ two distant relations. The eldest, Miss Anne Steele, is nearly 30, obsessed with suitors, and makes vulgar and over-familiar remarks. Miss Lucy Steele is 22, pretty, and intelligent. Lucy is embarrassed by her sister’s behavior and eager to flatter the Middletons, even if her comments are insincere. Elinor finds that she “[is] not blinded by the beauty or the shrewd look of the youngest, to her want of real elegance and artlessness” (143), and she does not wish to continue the acquaintance further. However, the Miss Steeles want to meet again, and Sir John encourages the friendship.

When Anne asks about Elinor’s luck with men, Sir John jokes about the mysterious Mr. F and even spills the name Mr. Ferrars. When Anne reveals that they know Edward Ferrars, Lucy counteracts the assertion. Elinor becomes curious about the Steeles’ relationship with Edward, but the conversation moves on.

As Marianne openly displays her intolerance of the Steeles, they foist their attention on Elinor. Lucy especially seeks to make Elinor a confidante and asks her if she is acquainted with Mrs. Ferrars, Fanny's mother. When Elinor admits that she does not know Mrs. Ferrars and asks why Lucy wants to learn about her, Lucy confesses that she has been secretly engaged to Edward Ferrars for four years. They formed the engagement when Edward was under the tutelage of her uncle, a Mr. Pratt. She worries that Mrs. Ferrars is too proud to accept her and implies that they are waiting for the day when Edward receives his independent fortune. Elinor is quietly devastated by this news and realizes that the ring Edward wore was entwined with Lucy’s hair rather than her own. While Elinor makes it clear that she never sought Miss Steele’s confidence, she assures Lucy that her secret is safe. Lucy makes the excuse that she felt she had to tell Elinor to explain her impertinent enquiry about Edward’s mother. Elinor cannot wait to be rid of Lucy so that she can be “at liberty to think and be wretched” (155).

Lucy’s story is consistent with everything Elinor knows about Edward, including his dejected state of mind on leaving Plymouth for Barton Cottage and Lucy’s extensive knowledge about Norland Park. Nevertheless, Elinor is convinced that “it was not an illusion of her own vanity” and that Edward “certainly loved her” (156). She judges that his engagement to Lucy was the error of his 19-year-old immaturity and that he will bitterly regret marrying Lucy. Elinor judges that in the four intervening, Edward improved his understanding and Lucy lost her attractive simplicity due to the influences of inferior company. Elinor weeps but does not wish to augment her distress by confiding in her mother and sister and so pretends to go on as normal. Marianne, meanwhile, checks every passing carriage for Willoughby.

While Lucy’s news pains her, Elinor wants to open the subject again to gauge the nature of Lucy’s feelings for Edward. She sees clearly that “Lucy was disposed to be jealous of her” owing to Edward and Sir John’s likely praise of her (159). However, they are often in mixed and rowdy company, so Elinor does not find an occasion for such a conversation until they are safely under the din of Marianne’s pianoforte.

When Elinor brings up the secret engagement with Lucy, Lucy seems relieved, saying that “there seemed to me to be a coldness and displeasure in your manner that made me quite uncomfortable” (164). Elinor feigns sympathy for Lucy’s likely rejection by Mrs. Ferrars and Edward’s being financially cut off owing to their marriage. Without his fortune, Edward would not be able to live in the style Lucy wishes for him. Elinor asks whether they are waiting out Mrs. Ferrars’ death for the marriage to take place, in order to prevent the money being transferred to his younger brother, Robert. When Lucy pronounces Robert “silly and a great coxcomb” (167), the others overhear. Mrs. Jennings makes an indelicate remark about Elinor’s beau (meaning Edward) being the opposite of a coxcomb. Anne Steele bets that Lucy’s beau is just as modest as Elinor’s.

When they are alone again, Lucy asks Elinor to manipulate John Dashwood to secure the Norland vicarage  for Edward, so that he can enter the church and marry her sooner. Elinor points out that Fanny has more power than her. Lucy shares that she suspects the wisest course of action would be to dissolve the inconvenient secret engagement. Elinor explicitly refuses to be involved. Lucy asks whether the Dashwood sisters will be in London during the winter. Lucy and Anne will be going so that they can coincide with Edward.

Mrs. Jennings invites Elinor and Marianne to her London residence in Portland Square for the winter. She makes explicit that it is with the objective of securing them husbands. Elinor, who does not want to run into Lucy, thinks it is an imprudent scheme, but Marianne, who can only think of Willoughby, thinks it is the best scheme ever. They leave by the first week in January.

Marianne is silent on the journey but as soon as they arrive at Mrs. Jennings’ house, she sets about writing to Willoughby. Elinor takes the letter-writing as proof of Marianne’s engagement, as Marianne expects that every carriage or rap on the door will be Willoughby. Elinor cannot help but contrast her dejected hopes with her sister’s high ones. She determines that she will learn of Willoughby’s character in London and if it is bad, she will reveal the truth to Marianne. If, however, it is good, “she must then learn to avoid every selfish comparison, and banish every regret which might lessen her satisfaction in the happiness of Marianne” (179).

Their first visitor in London is not Willoughby but Colonel Brandon. Marianne is so disappointed that she runs out of the room. Elinor tries to comfort him with talk of pleasantries.

The next day, Marianne rises in good spirits, but these are extinguished after a daytrip in Bond Street when she comes home to find no letter from Willoughby.

Mrs. Jennings surmises that the unseasonably fine weather is keeping the gentlemen hunting in the countryside and away from the city. Marianne is eager to take comfort in this prediction and monitors the weather to forecast how soon it will be before Willoughby is with her. Colonel Brandon comes to the house every day and Elinor observes with discomfort that his attachment to Marianne seems to be strengthening, despite the improbability of a return of affection.

At last, a week after they have arrived, Willoughby’s calling card appears on the front table. Marianne eagerly anticipates his actual visit. Elinor tries to gauge whether Marianne is expecting a letter, and by extension whether she is engaged. But Marianne says she is not keeping any secrets. Conversely, Elinor is the one who is concealing something. Elinor denies this.

Elinor and Marianne go to Sir and Lady Middleton’s London residence in Conduit Street, but Marianne becomes gloomy when Willoughby is not there. Mrs. Jennings makes clear that Willoughby was invited, but he declined. Marianne is devastated and Elinor worries so much about her that she writes to their mother imploring her to extract from Marianne whether she and Willoughby are engaged once and for all.

As soon as she has finished her letter, Colonel Brandon arrives, appearing as though he wants to confide in Elinor. He also wants to ascertain whether Marianne and Willoughby are engaged, having noticed a letter from Marianne addressed to Willoughby. Elinor is unsure of how to respond in the interests of safeguarding her sister’s reputation. She equivocates, indicating that she believes they are engaged. Brandon replies that “to your sister I wish all imaginable happiness; to Willoughby that he may endeavor to deserve her” (196). Elinor is greatly discomfited by this statement. She sees that Colonel Brandon is miserable and yet cannot hope that the engagement has not taken place on account of her sister’s reputation.

Willoughby does not appear and as a result Marianne is indifferent to attending Lady Middleton’s reception. She sits wearily in a chair until they spot Willoughby with “a very fashionable looking young woman” (197). He addresses Elinor with a bow, but appears to ignore Marianne, who lights up at the sight of him. Elinor stops her from rushing over to him, reminding her that she is in public.

When Willoughby approaches them, he addresses Elinor rather than Marianne. While Elinor is shocked by his coldness, Marianne openly laments the change. She urges him to shake hands with her and while “he could not then avoid it […] her touch seemed painful to him, and he held her hand for only a moment” (198). He does not answer Marianne’s questions about whether he has received her many notes. He seems embarrassed but, catching the fashionable young lady’s eye, masks this with words of civility. Elinor tries to hide Marianne’s distress from others, while Marianne implores her sister to go to Willoughby and demand an explanation.

Elinor and Marianne take a carriage and go home early. Elinor conjectures that Marianne and Willoughby were once engaged, but that Willoughby has since tired of the engagement.

Marianne is deeply afflicted, and Elinor begins to ask whether she and Willoughby were engaged, but Marianne quiets her, promising she will soon know everything. Marianne sits down to write a letter and Elinor assumes she is writing to Willoughby for the last time. Meanwhile, Mrs. Jennings tells Elinor that Marianne and Willoughby’s engagement is the talk of the town.

Marianne is so grieved by the contents of a letter she has just received from Willoughby that she screams. She allows Elinor to read a letter in which Willoughby apologizes for leading Marianne into thinking they were more than friends and confesses “that my affections have been long engaged elsewhere” (205). He returns all of Marianne’s letters and her lock of hair. Elinor judges Willoughby on the harshest terms. The letter is insensitive and cowardly in its denial that Willoughby ever felt anything for Marianne. However, she feels that Marianne has made a lucky escape.

Marianne resolves to be as miserable as possible by resisting rest and food. Elinor urges herself to “exert yourself […] if you would not kill yourself and all who love you” (208), hinting that Marianne’s excessive grief is selfish. Marianne says she cannot and tells Elinor that she is lucky because Edward loves her. Marianne asks Elinor whether anything could take away her happiness at being certain of Edward’s love. Elinor replies cryptically that certain circumstances could take away that happiness, but she does not confide in her sister about Lucy and Edward's engagement.

Marianne admits that she and Willoughby were never engaged and allows Elinor to peruse the letters she has sent Willoughby since their arrival. The first letter is a confident expectation that Willoughby will hasten to visit her on learning she is in town. The second letter expresses Marianne’s surprise and disappointment on not hearing from him. The third letter expresses Marianne’s repulsion at how Willoughby treated her at the reception.

Elinor condemns Willoughby’s conduct, but also criticizes Marianne for writing to him when they were not engaged. Marianne defends herself by saying that anyone would have done the same in her situation. She is certain that Willoughby returned her affections, and suspects that acquaintances must have ruined her in Willoughby’s opinion. She is baffled that he never mentioned the woman he has supposedly been long engaged to. Marianne expresses her longing to go home to their mother the next day. Elinor judges it improper, given Mrs. Jennings’ kindness towards them.

Mrs. Jennings is compassionate towards Marianne and shares the news that Willoughby’s engagement to a wealthy Miss Grey is public. Elinor tries to tactfully discourage Mrs. Jennings from gossiping, alerting her that it will harm Marianne, but admits that Willoughby was not technically engaged to Marianne. Mrs. Jennings says that Colonel Brandon will be cheered by the news, stating that he will be a much better husband than Willoughby and raving about the delights of his estate at Delaford. Mrs. Jennings offers to soothe Marianne with fine wine, but Elinor says that Marianne is falling asleep and takes of the comfort herself, feeling that “its healing powers on a disappointed heart might be as reasonably tried on herself as on her sister” (223).

Colonel Brandon visits and Elinor assures him that they know about Willoughby and Miss Grey. Colonel Brandon overheard the gossip at a stationer’s shop in Pall Mall. He enquires after Marianne and Elinor admits that she has been suffering and does not believe that Willoughby is indifferent to her.

Marianne determines to avoid Mrs. Jennings as much as possible. She ascribes malicious intent to Mrs. Jennings, calling her an interested gossip. When Marianne sees Colonel Brandon from the window, she is annoyed, remarking “we are never safe from HIM” (229). Elinor is pained by the discrepancy between Colonel Brandon’s concern for Marianne and Marianne’s disregard for him. The colonel has some news about Mr. Willoughby but insists on telling Elinor his own story first.

Colonel Brandon grew up alongside a girl called Eliza, who resembled Marianne in looks and temperament. Though the colonel and Eliza liked each other, Eliza was betrothed to Colonel Brandon’s brother, a man who did not care for her. Colonel Brandon and Eliza attempted to elope to Scotland but were betrayed by a maid. Their families intervened to separate the pair. While Colonel Brandon served in a regiment overseas, Eliza was unhappily married to Colonel Brandon’s brother. The brother mistreated Eliza, the couple divorced, and Eliza became a fallen woman with multiple seducers and gave birth to an illegitimate child. When Colonel Brandon returned to England, he tracked Eliza down but she soon died of consumption. Colonel Brandon provided for her child, also called Eliza. He sent her away to school and now tells society that Eliza Williams is “a distant relation” (234), although he is aware that people gossip about her being his love child. One day, Eliza went to Bath with a school friend and disappeared for eight months. The colonel suspected that she was seduced and made pregnant by someone. He received the news confirming this on the day of the proposed excursion from Barton Park. Now, Eliza has been delivered to the countryside with her child.

The man responsible for Eliza’s plight is Mr. Willoughby. Colonel Brandon challenged Willoughby to a duel, but as both parties were unscathed, the fact of the duel remained private. For Marianne’s well-being, the colonel urges Elinor to use tact when sharing the story with her.

Elinor tells Marianne the entirety of Colonel Brandon’s story, including Willoughby’s involvement. Though it takes Marianne a while to accept the story, she ceases to evade Colonel Brandon and begins addressing him with “a kind of compassionate respect” (239).

Mrs. Dashwood’s letters arrive and communicate her deep disappointment with Willoughby and her wish that Marianne should be brave. She thinks it is better for Marianne to remain in London, owing to the distractions, and is confident that their friends will shun Mr. Willoughby so Marianne will never run into him in London. However, were she to come back to Devonshire, she might spot him and his new bride at Allenham. Mrs. Dashwood mentions that their brother John will be in town in soon and that they ought to see him.

The Middletons and Mrs. Palmer express their contempt for Willoughby and promise that they will associate with him no more than necessary. However, they are curious about his marriage to Miss Grey. Mrs. Jennings begins to match Colonel Brandon and Elinor, despairing of the slowness of the attachment. Within a fortnight of Willoughby’s letter to Marianne, Elinor must tell Marianne that he and Miss Grey have married. Marianne is “in a state hardly less pitiable than when she first learnt to expect the event” (244).

The two Miss Steeles pay a visit. They make clear that they know about Marianne by expressing their surprise that the Miss Dashwoods are still in town. Marianne runs out of the room as soon as she sees them, and it is left to Elinor to excuse her. Anne rudely suggests that she and Lucy should visit Marianne in her private quarters. Lucy rebukes her sister and Elinor dislikes them both as much as ever.

Marianne consents to accompany Elinor to exchange some of their mother’s old-fashioned jewels. A man ahead of them obsesses over the minutiae of toothpick cases. As Elinor finishes her business, she runs into John Dashwood. He apologizes for not calling on them, making it clear that they were low on his list of priorities. When he hears that they have been patronized by the Middletons, he expresses his pleasure, suggesting that the wealthy Middleton’s have a duty to help their poorer relatives. He reveals that Edward has informed him of the Dashwoods’ living situation and has given a positive account of the cottage. John accompanies Elinor to meet Sir John and Lady Middleton and because they are wealthy and high-class, he judges them worthy of his wife Fanny’s attention. He seeks to promote a marriage between Elinor and Colonel Brandon, stating that although the smallness of her fortune may be a drawback, she can employ “some of those little attentions and encouragements which ladies can so easily give” to “fix him” (252). John warns Elinor that Edward will soon likely be married to a woman of his mother’s choosing: an Honorable Miss Morton, who is a Lord’s daughter.

John affects false concern for Marianne’s thin, wan looks, warning Elinor that her sister is losing her youthful charms and with them, the ability to attract a husband. He reveals Fanny’s surmise that Marianne would fetch a higher price in the marriage market because she is more attractive to men than Elinor. Now, he thinks that Elinor will marry better than her sister. He runs off home, eager to gossip with Fanny.

Fanny and John Dashwood visit Mrs. Jennings the next day. Fanny and Lady Middleton bond over their mutual superficiality and snobbishness, but Mrs. Jennings dislikes Fanny for her cold treatment of Elinor and Marianne. While Fanny will not mention Edward’s name in Elinor’s presence, Lucy Steele’s arrival confirms that Edward is in town.

John and Fanny throw a lavish dinner for the Middletons at their posh Harley Street residence. Mrs. Ferrars will attend, and Elinor is curious to see her, especially now that she believes nothing will come of her attachment to Edward. Lucy will also attend and hopes to inspire Elinor’s envy by saying she will be before her future-mother-in-law.

Mrs. Ferrars is small, proud and disagreeable. Both Mrs. Ferrars and Fanny Dashwood are kind to Lucy, whom they see as no threat to Edward’s marriage prospects, and cold to Elinor. After dinner, John officiously shows off some screens Elinor painted for them to Colonel Brandon. While Mrs. Ferrars glimpses the interaction and asks to see the screens, she changes her mind on hearing they are by Elinor and mentions Miss Morton’s own painting abilities. Marianne exclaims: “This is admiration of a very particular kind!—what is Miss Morton to us?—who knows, or cares, for her?—it is Elinor of whom WE think and speak” (266). Elinor is hurt by Marianne’s intervention, but Colonel Brandon is moved by her sisterly behavior.

Marianne is so overcome by Mrs. Ferrars coldness to Elinor that she bursts into tears. John corners Colonel Brandon, indiscreetly informing him that Marianne was once as handsome as Elinor, but now owing to her nervous complaint, all her beauty is gone.