Elinor grew impatient for some tidings of Edward.She had heard nothing of him since her leaving London, nothing new of his plans,nothing certain even of his present abode. Some letters had passed between her and her brother,in consequence of Marianne’s illness; and in the first of John’s, there had been this sentence:—“We know nothing of our unfortunate Edward, and can make no enquiries on so prohibited a subject,but conclude him to be still at Oxford;” which was all the intelligence of Edward afforded her by the correspondence,for his name was not even mentioned in any of the succeeding letters. She was not doomed, however,to be long in ignorance of his measures.
Their man-servant had been sent one morning to Exeter on business; and when, as he waited at table,he had satisfied the inquiries of his mistress as to the event of his errand, this was his voluntary communication,—
“I suppose you know, ma’am, that Mr. Ferrars is married.”
Marianne gave a violent start, fixed her eyes upon Elinor, saw her turning pale,and fell back in her chair in hysterics. Mrs. Dashwood, whose eyes,as she answered the servant’s inquiry, had intuitively taken the same direction,was shocked to perceive by Elinor’s countenance how much she really suffered,and a moment afterwards, alike distressed by Marianne’s situation,knew not on which child to bestow her principal attention.
The servant, who saw only that Miss Marianne was taken ill,had sense enough to call one of the maids, who, with Mrs. Dashwood’s assistance,supported her into the other room. By that time, Marianne was rather better,and her mother leaving her to the care of Margaret and the maid, returned to Elinor, who,though still much disordered, had so far recovered the use of her reason and voice as to be just beginning an inquiry of Thomas,as to the source of his intelligence. Mrs. Dashwood immediately took all that trouble on herself;and Elinor had the benefit of the information without the exertion of seeking it.
“Who told you that Mr. Ferrars was married, Thomas?”
“I see Mr. Ferrars myself, ma’am, this morning in Exeter, and his lady too, Miss Steele as was.They was stopping in a chaise at the door of the New London Inn,as I went there with a message from Sally at the Park to her brother, who is one of the post-boys.I happened to look up as I went by the chaise,and so I see directly it was the youngest Miss Steele; so I took off my hat,and she knew me and called to me, and inquired after you, ma’am, and the young ladies,especially Miss Marianne, and bid me I should give her compliments and Mr. Ferrars’s,their best compliments and service, and how sorry they was they had not time to come on and see you,but they was in a great hurry to go forwards, for they was going further down for a little while,but howsever, when they come back, they’d make sure to come and see you.”
“But did she tell you she was married, Thomas?”
“Yes, ma’am. She smiled, and said how she had changed her name since she was in these parts.She was always a very affable and free-spoken young lady, and very civil behaved. So, I made free to wish her joy.”
“Was Mr. Ferrars in the carriage with her?”
“Yes, ma’am, I just see him leaning back in it, but he did not look up;—he never was a gentleman much for talking.”
Elinor’s heart could easily account for his not putting himself forward; and Mrs.Dashwood probably found the same explanation.
“Was there no one else in the carriage?”
“No, ma’am, only they two.”
“Do you know where they came from?”
“They come straight from town, as Miss Lucy—Mrs. Ferrars told me.”
“And are they going farther westward?”
“Yes, ma’am—but not to bide long. They will soon be back again, and then they’d be sure and call here.”
Mrs. Dashwood now looked at her daughter; but Elinor knew better than to expect them.She recognised the whole of Lucy in the message,and was very confident that Edward would never come near them. She observed in a low voice,to her mother, that they were probably going down to Mr. Pratt’s, near Plymouth.
Thomas’s intelligence seemed over. Elinor looked as if she wished to hear more.
“Did you see them off, before you came away?”
“No, ma’am—the horses were just coming out, but I could not bide any longer; I was afraid of being late.”
“Did Mrs. Ferrars look well?”
“Yes, ma’am, she said how she was very well;and to my mind she was always a very handsome young lady—and she seemed vastly contented.”
Mrs. Dashwood could think of no other question, and Thomas and the tablecloth, now alike needless,were soon afterwards dismissed. Marianne had already sent to say, that she should eat nothing more.Mrs. Dashwood’s and Elinor’s appetites were equally lost,and Margaret might think herself very well off,that with so much uneasiness as both her sisters had lately experienced,so much reason as they had often had to be careless of their meals,she had never been obliged to go without her dinner before.
When the dessert and the wine were arranged, and Mrs. Dashwood and Elinor were left by themselves,they remained long together in a similarity of thoughtfulness and silence. Mrs.Dashwood feared to hazard any remark, and ventured not to offer consolation.She now found that she had erred in relying on Elinor’s representation of herself;and justly concluded that every thing had been expressly softened at the time,to spare her from an increase of unhappiness, suffering as she then had suffered for Marianne.She found that she had been misled by the careful, the considerate attention of her daughter,to think the attachment, which once she had so well understood, much slighter in reality,than she had been wont to believe, or than it was now proved to be.She feared that under this persuasion she had been unjust, inattentive, nay, almost unkind,to her Elinor;—that Marianne’s affliction, because more acknowledged, more immediately before her,had too much engrossed her tenderness, and led her away to forget that in Elinor she might have a daughter suffering almost as much,certainly with less self-provocation, and greater fortitude.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
Elinor now found the difference between the expectation of an unpleasant event,however certain the mind may be told to consider it, and certainty itself. She now found,that in spite of herself, she had always admitted a hope, while Edward remained single,that something would occur to prevent his marrying Lucy; that some resolution of his own,some mediation of friends, or some more eligible opportunity of establishment for the lady,would arise to assist the happiness of all. But he was now married;and she condemned her heart for the lurking flattery,which so much heightened the pain of the intelligence.
That he should be married soon, before (as she imagined) he could be in orders,and consequently before he could be in possession of the living, surprised her a little at first.But she soon saw how likely it was that Lucy, in her self-provident care,in her haste to secure him, should overlook every thing but the risk of delay. They were married,married in town, and now hastening down to her uncle’s.What had Edward felt on being within four miles from Barton, on seeing her mother’s servant, on hearing Lucy’s message!
They would soon, she supposed, be settled at Delaford.—Delaford,—that place in which so much conspired to give her an interest;which she wished to be acquainted with, and yet desired to avoid.She saw them in an instant in their parsonage-house; saw in Lucy, the active, contriving manager,uniting at once a desire of smart appearance with the utmost frugality,and ashamed to be suspected of half her economical practices;—pursuing her own interest in every thought, courting the favour of Colonel Brandon, of Mrs.Jennings, and of every wealthy friend. In Edward—she knew not what she saw,nor what she wished to see;—happy or unhappy,—nothing pleased her;she turned away her head from every sketch of him.
Elinor flattered herself that some one of their connections in London would write to them to announce the event,and give farther particulars,—but day after day passed off, and brought no letter, no tidings.Though uncertain that any one were to blame, she found fault with every absent friend. They were all thoughtless or indolent.
“When do you write to Colonel Brandon, ma’am?” was an inquiry which sprung from the impatience of her mind to have something going on.
“I wrote to him, my love, last week, and rather expect to see, than to hear from him again.I earnestly pressed his coming to us, and should not be surprised to see him walk in today or tomorrow, or any day.”
This was gaining something, something to look forward to.Colonel Brandon _must_ have some information to give.
Scarcely had she so determined it, when the figure of a man on horseback drew her eyes to the window.He stopt at their gate. It was a gentleman, it was Colonel Brandon himself.Now she could hear more; and she trembled in expectation of it. But it was _not_ Colonel Brandon;neither his air, nor his height. Were it possible, she must say it must be Edward.She looked again. He had just dismounted: she could not be mistaken,—it _was_ Edward.She moved away and sat down. “He comes from Mr. Pratt’s purposely to see us. I _will_ be calm; I _will_ be mistress of myself.”
In a moment she perceived that the others were likewise aware of the mistake.She saw her mother and Marianne change colour; saw them look at herself,and whisper a few sentences to each other.She would have given the world to be able to speak—and to make them understand that she hoped no coolness,no slight, would appear in their behaviour to him;—but she had no utterance,and was obliged to leave all to their own discretion.
Not a syllable passed aloud. They all waited in silence for the appearance of their visitor.His footsteps were heard along the gravel path; in a moment he was in the passage, and in another he was before them.
His countenance, as he entered the room, was not too happy, even for Elinor.His complexion was white with agitation, and he looked as if fearful of his reception,and conscious that he merited no kind one. Mrs. Dashwood, however, conforming, as she trusted,to the wishes of that daughter, by whom she then meant in the warmth of her heart to be guided in every thing,met him with a look of forced complacency, gave him her hand, and wished him joy.
He coloured, and stammered out an unintelligible reply. Elinor’s lips had moved with her mother’s,and, when the moment of action was over, she wished that she had shaken hands with him too.But it was then too late, and with a countenance meaning to be open,she sat down again and talked of the weather.
Marianne had retreated as much as possible out of sight, to conceal her distress; and Margaret,understanding some part, but not the whole of the case,thought it incumbent on her to be dignified,and therefore took a seat as far from him as she could, and maintained a strict silence.
When Elinor had ceased to rejoice in the dryness of the season, a very awful pause took place.It was put an end to by Mrs. Dashwood, who felt obliged to hope that he had left Mrs.Ferrars very well. In a hurried manner, he replied in the affirmative.
Another pause.
Elinor resolving to exert herself, though fearing the sound of her own voice, now said,
“Is Mrs. Ferrars at Longstaple?”
“At Longstaple!” he replied, with an air of surprise. “No, my mother is in town.”
“I meant,” said Elinor, taking up some work from the table, “to enquire for Mrs. _Edward_ Ferrars.”
She dared not look up;—but her mother and Marianne both turned their eyes on him. He coloured,seemed perplexed, looked doubtingly, and, after some hesitation, said,—
“Perhaps you mean—my brother—you mean Mrs.—Mrs. _Robert_ Ferrars.”
“Mrs. Robert Ferrars!” was repeated by Marianne and her mother in an accent of the utmost amazement;and though Elinor could not speak, even _her_ eyes were fixed on him with the same impatient wonder.He rose from his seat, and walked to the window, apparently from not knowing what to do;took up a pair of scissors that lay there,and while spoiling both them and their sheath by cutting the latter to pieces as he spoke, said, in a hurried voice,—
“Perhaps you do not know: you may not have heard that my brother is lately married to—to the youngest—to Miss Lucy Steele. ”
His words were echoed with unspeakable astonishment by all but Elinor,who sat with her head leaning over her work,in a state of such agitation as made her hardly know where she was.
“Yes,” said he, “they were married last week, and are now at Dawlish.”
Elinor could sit it no longer. She almost ran out of the room, and as soon as the door was closed,burst into tears of joy, which at first she thought would never cease. Edward,who had till then looked any where, rather than at her, saw her hurry away,and perhaps saw—or even heard, her emotion; for immediately afterwards he fell into a reverie,which no remarks, no inquiries, no affectionate address of Mrs. Dashwood could penetrate,and at last, without saying a word, quitted the room,and walked out towards the village—leaving the others in the greatest astonishment and perplexity on a change in his situation,so wonderful and so sudden;—a perplexity which they had no means of lessening but by their own conjectures.
CHAPTER XLIX.
Unaccountable, however, as the circumstances of his release might appear to the whole family,it was certain that Edward was free; and to what purpose that freedom would be employed was easily pre-determined by all;—for after experiencing the blessings of _one_ imprudent engagement,contracted without his mother’s consent, as he had already done for more than four years,nothing less could be expected of him in the failure of _that_,than the immediate contraction of another.
His errand at Barton, in fact, was a simple one. It was only to ask Elinor to marry him;—and considering that he was not altogether inexperienced in such a question,it might be strange that he should feel so uncomfortable in the present case as he really did,so much in need of encouragement and fresh air.
How soon he had walked himself into the proper resolution, however,how soon an opportunity of exercising it occurred, in what manner he expressed himself,and how he was received, need not be particularly told. This only need be said;—that when they all sat down to table at four o’clock, about three hours after his arrival,he had secured his lady, engaged her mother’s consent,and was not only in the rapturous profession of the lover, but, in the reality of reason and truth,one of the happiest of men. His situation indeed was more than commonly joyful.He had more than the ordinary triumph of accepted love to swell his heart, and raise his spirits.He was released without any reproach to himself,from an entanglement which had long formed his misery,from a woman whom he had long ceased to love;—and elevated at once to that security with another,which he must have thought of almost with despair,as soon as he had learnt to consider it with desire. He was brought, not from doubt or suspense,but from misery to happiness;—and the change was openly spoken in such a genuine, flowing,grateful cheerfulness, as his friends had never witnessed in him before.
His heart was now open to Elinor, all its weaknesses, all its errors confessed,and his first boyish attachment to Lucy treated with all the philosophic dignity of twenty-four.
“It was a foolish, idle inclination on my side,” said he,“the consequence of ignorance of the world, and want of employment.Had my mother given me some active profession when I was removed at eighteen from the care of Mr.Pratt, I think, nay, I am sure, it would never have happened;for though I left Longstaple with what I thought, at the time,a most unconquerable preference for his niece, yet had I then had any pursuit,any object to engage my time and keep me at a distance from her for a few months,I should very soon have outgrown the fancied attachment, especially by mixing more with the world,as in such case I must have done. But instead of having any thing to do,instead of having any profession chosen for me, or being allowed to chuse any myself,I returned home to be completely idle; and for the first twelvemonth afterwards I had not even the nominal employment,which belonging to the university would have given me;for I was not entered at Oxford till I was nineteen. I had therefore nothing in the world to do,but to fancy myself in love; and as my mother did not make my home in every respect comfortable,as I had no friend, no companion in my brother, and disliked new acquaintance,it was not unnatural for me to be very often at Longstaple, where I always felt myself at home,and was always sure of a welcome; and accordingly I spent the greatest part of my time there from eighteen to nineteen:Lucy appeared everything that was amiable and obliging.She was pretty too—at least I thought so _then;_ and I had seen so little of other women,that I could make no comparisons, and see no defects. Considering everything, therefore, I hope,foolish as our engagement was, foolish as it has since in every way been proved,it was not at the time an unnatural or an inexcusable piece of folly.”
The change which a few hours had wrought in the minds and the happiness of the Dashwoods,was such—so great—as promised them all, the satisfaction of a sleepless night. Mrs. Dashwood,too happy to be comfortable, knew not how to love Edward, nor praise Elinor enough,how to be enough thankful for his release without wounding his delicacy,nor how at once to give them leisure for unrestrained conversation together, and yet enjoy,as she wished, the sight and society of both.
Marianne could speak _her_ happiness only by tears. Comparisons would occur—regrets would arise;and her joy, though sincere as her love for her sister,was of a kind to give her neither spirits nor language.
But Elinor—how are _her_ feelings to be described?From the moment of learning that Lucy was married to another, that Edward was free,to the moment of his justifying the hopes which had so instantly followed,she was every thing by turns but tranquil. But when the second moment had passed,when she found every doubt, every solicitude removed,compared her situation with what so lately it had been,—saw him honourably released from his former engagement,—saw him instantly profiting by the release,to address herself and declare an affection as tender,as constant as she had ever supposed it to be,—she was oppressed,she was overcome by her own felicity; and happily disposed as is the human mind to be easily familiarized with any change for the better,it required several hours to give sedateness to her spirits,or any degree of tranquillity to her heart.
Edward was now fixed at the cottage at least for a week;—for whatever other claims might be made on him,it was impossible that less than a week should be given up to the enjoyment of Elinor’s company,or suffice to say half that was to be said of the past, the present, and the future;—for though a very few hours spent in the hard labor of incessant talking will despatch more subjects than can really be in common between any two rational creatures, yet with lovers it is different. Between _them_ no subject is finished, no communication is even made, till it has been made at least twenty times over.
Lucy’s marriage, the unceasing and reasonable wonder among them all,formed of course one of the earliest discussions of the lovers;—and Elinor’s particular knowledge of each party made it appear to her in every view,as one of the most extraordinary and unaccountable circumstances she had ever heard.How they could be thrown together, and by what attraction Robert could be drawn on to marry a girl,of whose beauty she had herself heard him speak without any admiration,—a girl too already engaged to his brother,and on whose account that brother had been thrown off by his family—it was beyond her comprehension to make out.To her own heart it was a delightful affair, to her imagination it was even a ridiculous one,but to her reason, her judgment, it was completely a puzzle.
Edward could only attempt an explanation by supposing, that, perhaps, at first accidentally meeting,the vanity of the one had been so worked on by the flattery of the other,as to lead by degrees to all the rest. Elinor remembered what Robert had told her in Harley Street,of his opinion of what his own mediation in his brother’s affairs might have done,if applied to in time. She repeated it to Edward.
“_That_ was exactly like Robert,” was his immediate observation. “And _that_,” he presently added,“might perhaps be in _his_ head when the acquaintance between them first began.And Lucy perhaps at first might think only of procuring his good offices in my favour. Other designs might afterward arise.”
How long it had been carrying on between them, however,he was equally at a loss with herself to make out; for at Oxford,where he had remained for choice ever since his quitting London,he had had no means of hearing of her but from herself,and her letters to the very last were neither less frequent, nor less affectionate than usual.Not the smallest suspicion, therefore, had ever occurred to prepare him for what followed;—and when at last it burst on him in a letter from Lucy herself, he had been for some time,he believed, half stupified between the wonder, the horror, and the joy of such a deliverance. He put the letter into Elinor’s hands.
“DEAR SIR, “Being very sure I have long lost your affections,I have thought myself at liberty to bestow my own on another,and have no doubt of being as happy with him as I once used to think I might be with you;but I scorn to accept a hand while the heart was another’s.Sincerely wish you happy in your choice,and it shall not be my fault if we are not always good friends,as our near relationship now makes proper. I can safely say I owe you no ill-will,and am sure you will be too generous to do us any ill offices.Your brother has gained my affections entirely, and as we could not live without one another,we are just returned from the altar, and are now on our way to Dawlish for a few weeks,which place your dear brother has great curiosity to see,but thought I would first trouble you with these few lines, and shall always remain,
“Your sincere well-wisher, friend, and sister, “LUCY FERRARS.
“I have burnt all your letters, and will return your picture the first opportunity.Please to destroy my scrawls—but the ring with my hair you are very welcome to keep.”
Elinor read and returned it without any comment.
“I will not ask your opinion of it as a composition,” said Edward.—“For worlds would not I have had a letter of hers seen by _you_ in former days.—In a sister it is bad enough, but in a wife!—how I have blushed over the pages of her writing!—and I believe I may say that since the first half year of our foolish—business—this is the only letter I ever received from her,of which the substance made me any amends for the defect of the style.”
“However it may have come about,” said Elinor, after a pause,—“they are certainly married.And your mother has brought on herself a most appropriate punishment.The independence she settled on Robert, through resentment against you,has put it in his power to make his own choice;and she has actually been bribing one son with a thousand a-year,to do the very deed which she disinherited the other for intending to do.She will hardly be less hurt, I suppose, by Robert’s marrying Lucy,than she would have been by your marrying her.”
“She will be more hurt by it, for Robert always was her favourite.—She will be more hurt by it,and on the same principle will forgive him much sooner.”
In what state the affair stood at present between them, Edward knew not,for no communication with any of his family had yet been attempted by him.He had quitted Oxford within four and twenty hours after Lucy’s letter arrived,and with only one object before him, the nearest road to Barton,had had no leisure to form any scheme of conduct,with which that road did not hold the most intimate connection.He could do nothing till he were assured of his fate with Miss Dashwood;and by his rapidity in seeking _that_ fate, it is to be supposed,in spite of the jealousy with which he had once thought of Colonel Brandon,in spite of the modesty with which he rated his own deserts,and the politeness with which he talked of his doubts, he did not, upon the whole,expect a very cruel reception. It was his business, however, to say that he _did_,and he said it very prettily. What he might say on the subject a twelvemonth after,must be referred to the imagination of husbands and wives.
That Lucy had certainly meant to deceive,to go off with a flourish of malice against him in her message by Thomas,was perfectly clear to Elinor; and Edward himself, now thoroughly enlightened on her character,had no scruple in believing her capable of the utmost meanness of wanton ill-nature.Though his eyes had been long opened, even before his acquaintance with Elinor began,to her ignorance and a want of liberality in some of her opinions—they had been equally imputed,by him, to her want of education; and till her last letter reached him,he had always believed her to be a well-disposed, good-hearted girl,and thoroughly attached to himself. Nothing but such a persuasion could have prevented his putting an end to an engagement,which, long before the discovery of it laid him open to his mother’s anger,had been a continual source of disquiet and regret to him.
“I thought it my duty,” said he, “independent of my feelings,to give her the option of continuing the engagement or not, when I was renounced by my mother,and stood to all appearance without a friend in the world to assist me.In such a situation as that, where there seemed nothing to tempt the avarice or the vanity of any living creature,how could I suppose, when she so earnestly, so warmly insisted on sharing my fate,whatever it might be, that any thing but the most disinterested affection was her inducement?And even now, I cannot comprehend on what motive she acted,or what fancied advantage it could be to her,to be fettered to a man for whom she had not the smallest regard,and who had only two thousand pounds in the world.She could not foresee that Colonel Brandon would give me a living.”
“No; but she might suppose that something would occur in your favour;that your own family might in time relent. And at any rate,she lost nothing by continuing the engagement,for she has proved that it fettered neither her inclination nor her actions.The connection was certainly a respectable one,and probably gained her consideration among her friends; and,if nothing more advantageous occurred, it would be better for her to marry _you_ than be single.”
Edward was, of course, immediately convinced that nothing could have been more natural than Lucy’s conduct,nor more self-evident than the motive of it.
Elinor scolded him, harshly as ladies always scold the imprudence which compliments themselves,for having spent so much time with them at Norland, when he must have felt his own inconstancy.
“Your behaviour was certainly very wrong,” said she; “because—to say nothing of my own conviction,our relations were all led away by it to fancy and expect _what_, as you were _then_ situated, could never be.”
He could only plead an ignorance of his own heart,and a mistaken confidence in the force of his engagement.
“I was simple enough to think, that because my _faith_ was plighted to another,there could be no danger in my being with you;and that the consciousness of my engagement was to keep my heart as safe and sacred as my honour.I felt that I admired you, but I told myself it was only friendship;and till I began to make comparisons between yourself and Lucy, I did not know how far I was got.After that, I suppose, I _was_ wrong in remaining so much in Sussex,and the arguments with which I reconciled myself to the expediency of it,were no better than these:—The danger is my own; I am doing no injury to anybody but myself.”
Elinor smiled, and shook her head.
Edward heard with pleasure of Colonel Brandon’s being expected at the Cottage,as he really wished not only to be better acquainted with him,but to have an opportunity of convincing him that he no longer resented his giving him the living of Delaford—“Which,at present,” said he, “after thanks so ungraciously delivered as mine were on the occasion,he must think I have never forgiven him for offering.”
_Now_ he felt astonished himself that he had never yet been to the place.But so little interest had he taken in the matter, that he owed all his knowledge of the house,garden, and glebe, extent of the parish, condition of the land, and rate of the tithes,to Elinor herself, who had heard so much of it from Colonel Brandon,and heard it with so much attention, as to be entirely mistress of the subject.