Pride and Prejudice; Sense and Sensibility

Chapter 120 Edward's Reflection

Chapter 120 Edward's Reflection (1)
Although it seemed inconceivable to the Dashwoods that Edward's release from his engagement to freedom seemed inconceivable, he did.And how he will use this termination, everyone can easily predict.He had suffered for more than four years through a hasty engagement without his mother's knowledge, and now that the marriage had been blown, he was finally blessed by a blessing in disguise, so that he would be engaged again at once.

In fact, Edward came to Barton with a very simple task, which was to propose to Eleanor.He was not inexperienced in such matters, but it was strange that he should be so restless this time, so needing encouragement, so needing to get out into the fresh air.

However, how long it took him to finally make up his mind, how he immediately put his resolution into action, and in what way he expressed his heart, and how he was accepted, all these need not be repeated.All that needs to be said is that at four o'clock, about three hours after his arrival, when they all sat down to eat together, he had won over his soulmate and her mother's assent.His claim that he was the happiest man in the world was not only a confession of lover's ecstasy, but also realistic and reasonable.His condition made him exceedingly happy indeed.There was something else besides the acceptance of the courtship that made his heart surge and his emotions extraordinarily high.He was free at last of a long and painful emotional entanglement, a woman he had long since ceased to love—and he was blameless, and he immediately won another.But back then, when he first had this idea, he felt almost hopeless in his heart. He did not turn from doubts and uneasiness, but from suffering to happiness.He expressed the change unabashedly, with a visceral sense of gratitude and joy that his friends had never seen before.

He opened his heart to Eleanor, confessed all his weaknesses and faults, and related his childish attachment to Lucy with the wisdom and dignity of a twenty-four-year-old.

"It is the result of my stupidity and idle caprice," he said, "the result of my utter ignorance of the ways of the world—the result of my idleness. If my mother had let me I'll find something to do, and I think, no, I'm sure it's never going to happen, because I thought I was very fond of his niece when I left Longstaple, if I Something to do, keep me busy for a few months, just get away from her for a few months, especially with the world more (which I would certainly do in this case), and I'll clear up my feelings for her in no time. but I came home with nothing to do—no career chosen for me, no self-employment allowed, nothing to do. During the first year that followed, I didn’t even have a None of the academic tasks that a college student should be nominally busy with because I didn't enter Oxford until I was 19. I had nothing to do in the world but to indulge in romantic fantasies. Plus my mother didn't give me a comfortable place -and I had no friends, and I didn't get along with my brother, and I didn't like to make new friends, so I naturally went to Langstaple's a lot, because I always felt at home there, and I was always welcome. That's how I spent most of my time there from the time I was 19. Lucy seemed very nice and she was pretty - at least that's what I thought then. I rarely saw other women, no I can't see any faults in her by comparison. So, considering all this, although our engagement was foolish, and everything that happened after that proved it to be foolish, I think it was not at the time. It was inhuman, unforgivable stupidity."

In just a few hours, he brought such great changes and happiness to the Dashwood mother and daughter that they had every reason to spend a sleepless night of great joy.Mrs. Dashwood fidgeted with joy, not knowing how to love Edward, how to praise Eleanor--how to congratulate Edward enough for his annulment without hurting his fragile feelings.She wanted to give them time to talk freely, but she also wanted them to spend more time with her in front of her eyes, to see them, to spend more time with them.

Marianne could only express her joy with tears.She will inevitably have to compare the two and feel sorry for herself.She expressed genuine joy at it, as genuine as her affection for her sister, but it neither cheered her up nor made her speak.

But Eleanor, how should her mood be described?From the moment she learned that Lucy had married someone else, that Edward had broken the engagement and gained freedom, to the time when he confirmed her that she could quickly ignite the fire of hope, during this period of time, her heart had been churning up and down, and it was difficult to calm down.But after this period—when she had removed all doubts, all anxieties, and compared her situation before and after, and saw that he had honorably broken off his past engagement, and immediately freed from it, proposed to her at once—then When, as she had always expected, the deep and steadfast love was revealed to her, although she was overjoyed, she felt dull and depressed.Because the human heart is very happy or sad, and it is easy to get excited when the situation improves, so it will take a few more hours for her to calm down.

Edward now lived at least a week in the cottage.For whatever else he might have to do, he and Eleanor could not spend less than a week together, or else they would not have even half of what they had to say about the past, the present, and the future.For two normal people, when talking about problems, the conversation can be finished in a few hours; but for lovers, the situation is different.Between them, a topic has to be said over and over again at least twenty times before it can be concluded, otherwise, it is not even considered a conversation.

Lucy's marriage was, of course, the greatest surprise to them all, and certainly one of the first topics of conversation between the two lovers.Eleanor has a special understanding of both parties, and their marriage is the most extraordinary and incredible phenomenon she has ever heard in her life no matter from which angle she looks at it.How they got together, and how Robert was tempted to marry a girl whom she had heard him tell him personally, which he did not find attractive at all--and who, besides, was engaged to his brother. , his brother was kicked out of the house because of this.All this really puzzled her.To her own mind it was a very good thing, to her fancy it was even absurd, but to her reason and judgment it was a complete mystery.

Edward could only guess and say: Maybe they just met by chance at first, and the flattery of one party aroused the vanity of the other party, which gradually developed into later things.Elinor remembered what Robert had said to her in Harley Street.Robert talked about what would have happened with his brother if he had intervened in time.She repeated those words to Edward.

"That's just how Robert does things," said Edward at once. "Perhaps," he went on at once, "that idea may have been in his head when they first met. Lucy may have just begged him to help me at first." It's my fault. The conspiracy may be a later thing."

However, how long they have been plotting between them, he, like her, is also unknown.For since leaving London he had preferred to live in Oxford.There he had no other way of hearing from Lucy than to receive her letters, and Lucy's letters to the end were as frequent as ever, and as warm as ever.Therefore, he never became suspicious at all, and he was not at all mentally prepared for what happened next.At last, a letter from Lucy came that surprised him.Indeed, when he heard that she had broken off such a marriage, he was so surprised, frightened and delighted that he was stunned for a moment.He handed the letter to Eleanor:
Dear Sir:
In view of the fact that I have lost your love, I consider myself entitled to give it to another, and I have no doubt that my union with him will be as happy as I was once with you .Since you have given your heart to others, I don't bother to marry you.Sincerely wish you find your soulmate.Now that we are close relatives, we should have remained good friends, otherwise it wouldn't have been my fault.I can assure you: I have absolutely no ill intentions towards you.I also trust that you are a generous man and will not give us trouble.Your brother has won my love completely, for we cannot live apart from each other.We just got married in church and are going to Dawlish for a few weeks now because your dear brother would love to see this place.However, I think I should write to you first, without further ado.

Your eternally sincere well-wishers, friends and sister-in-law
Sincerely, Lucy Fellers

I have burned all your letters, and I will return the photos on the Zunji frame as soon as I have a chance.Please burn my poorly written letter.As for rings and hair, you may keep them.

Eleanor read the letter and handed it back without a word.

"I don't want to ask you what you think of the style of this letter," said Edward. "I would never have shown you her letter before. She has become my sister-in-law. It's bad enough, but as a wife, I can't say how much I blush when I read her letters! Since the first six months of our stupidity, I think I can say that it's what I learned from her. The first letter ever received there whose contents make up for the deficiencies of its writing."

After a pause, Eleanor said: "No matter how it happened, they must be married. Your mother shot herself in the foot with a brick. This is the result of her own fault and the most appropriate punishment for her. Displeased with you, she bequeathed to Robert a subsistence estate, which ended up enabling him to choose his own partner. In effect, she was buying a son to do it with a thousand pounds a year. What her other son, who was deprived of her property inheritance rights, wanted to do but didn't do, I think that Robert's marriage to Lucy may not be a lesser blow to her than your marriage to Lucy."

"She will only be hit harder because she has always loved Robert. She will be hit harder, and also because she loves him, she will forgive him faster."

What is the relationship between Robert and his mother now, Edward does not know, because he has not been in contact with anyone in the family.He left Oxford within twenty-four hours of Lucy's letter, with only one object in mind, the shortest road to Barton, and had no time to consider anything not directly connected with this route.He could do nothing without finalizing the outcome of his fate with Miss Dashwood.The urgency with which he pursued this result is not difficult to infer, though he was once jealous of Colonel Bland--though he was more modest in his calculation of his merits and more earnest in talking about his misgivings--the whole Speaking of which, he was still afraid that he would be treated coldly.But in fact, he said that he really expected so, and he said it so beautifully.But what he will say a year later, it has to be left to the imagination of the husband and wife.

(End of this chapter)

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