Pride and Prejudice; Sense and Sensibility

Chapter 70 Eleanor's Rational Thinking

"It's a pity, Elinor," said Marianne, "that Edward doesn't like painting."

"Don't like painting?" Eleanor was surprised. "How can you think so? It's true that he doesn't paint himself, but he likes to see other people paint. I can assure you that he has no lack of talent for painting. It's just that he hasn't had a chance to learn and improve. If he took it step by step, I think he'd be very good at drawing. He's never quite sure of his taste, so he doesn't like to comment on any pictures. Still, He was gifted with a proper and unadulterated taste, which enabled him to see often with great accuracy."

Marianne stopped talking for fear of offending her sister.However, Eleanor said that he has a taste for painting, how can such a plain taste be qualified?In Marianne's opinion, true taste could only be called ecstasy, but Mr. Edward's taste was far from reaching such a degree, and she seemed to her to laugh to herself at her sister's mistakes.However, she also admired her sister's blind preference for Edward, which led to such a wrong evaluation.

"Marian," continued Eleanor, "I hope you will not think that he has no common sense of taste. In fact, I should perhaps say that you would not, for you are very devoted to him. If you have You certainly wouldn't be so polite to him in that way."

So Marianne hardly knew what to say.Although she didn't want to hurt her sister's feelings anyway, she couldn't speak insincerely.Finally she replied:
"Don't be offended, Elinor, if my compliments of him do not coincide with what you know to be good about him. I have not so much opportunity as you to fathom the finer points of his interests, inclinations, and appreciations. However, I greatly admire his virtue and insight. I think he is a very respectable person."

"I'm sure," replied Elinor, smiling, "that even his closest friends would not be dissatisfied with such a compliment. I dare say you couldn't have been more enthusiastic."

Marianne could not help being pleased at seeing her sister cheer up so quickly.

"As to his virtue and knowledge," went on Elinor, "no one who sees him often and can talk with him as he pleases, I think no one can doubt that he has extraordinary knowledge and integrity, and it is only because he is naturally shy. Shyness, caused by excessive reticence, so it is impossible to show it at a time. You know him and can give a fair evaluation of his character. But when it comes to what you call subtle characteristics, I know better than you Some special circumstances. Because I spend more time with him, but you are with your mother all day, completely tied to her. I have more contact with him, and I have been able to study him to listen to his opinions on literature and appreciation. On the whole, I am sure that he has profound knowledge, loves reading, has rich imagination, sees issues fair and pertinent, and has elegant and pure taste. His talents and abilities in all aspects are the same as his character and behavior. The more familiar you are with him, the better impression you will leave. At first glance, he is indeed not very eye-catching and his appearance is not beautiful, but you It made all the difference when I saw his very touching eyes, and his very lovely expression. Now that I know him well, I think he is indeed handsome, or at least pretty. What do you think, Marianne ?”

"Eleanor, I shall soon find him handsome, though I do not think so now. When you make me love him as a brother-in-law, I shall see no imperfection in his features, as I Now I can’t see anything imperfect in him.”

Hearing what she said, Eleanor couldn't help being surprised.She regretted that she should not have shown such enthusiasm when talking about Edward.She felt that she had the utmost admiration for Edward.She thought it was the same with his impression of her.She needed a greater certainty about this feeling, though, to make herself feel more secure, and to convince Marianne that they were in love with each other.She knew that Marianne and her mother were similar in character, they both liked to guess wildly when they had something, and they were easy to believe it was true.For both of them, what is in wish is hope, and what is hope is just around the corner.She wanted to explain the truth of the matter to her sister.

"I don't want to deny it," she said, "I value him very much, I respect him very much, I like him."

Marianne suddenly flew into a rage: "Respect him! Love him! Eleanor, you are so cold and heartless. Huh! Worse than cold and heartless! You say that because you are shy. If you say such things again, I will leave immediately This room."

"Forgive me," said Eleanor, with a smile, "but you may rest assured that I have never intended to offend you by speaking of my feelings so calmly. Believe me, my feelings are more than my confession." And you have to believe that, firstly, he has so many advantages, and secondly, I doubt whether he has feelings for me, so I have such feelings for granted, which is neither frivolous nor abrupt. But In addition, you must not believe it, because I can't guarantee that he must have a heart for me. After all, sometimes, this kind of thing is very difficult to judge. Before I have a thorough understanding of his true thoughts, I don't want to trust His concern, or thinking more than reality, lest I unilaterally condone this preference. Don't replace facts with imagination, and believe in lies, you won't be surprised. To be honest, he likes me very much, and I Not much—almost no doubts, I might say. But that alone was enough. There were other things to consider. He was by no means a man on his own. What kind of person was his mother? None of us knew. However, from what Fanny occasionally said about her actions and opinions, we never thought she was a pleasant person. If Edward wanted to marry a woman who , will definitely encounter a lot of resistance, and if I think he didn't expect this, then I'm very wrong."

Marianne was surprised to find that her own and her mother's imagination was far from the truth.

"You're really not engaged to him?" she said. "However, it will certainly happen soon. But this delay will do two good things. First, I won't lose you so soon, and second. Dehua may have more opportunities to improve his taste in order to better appreciate your special hobby, which is indispensable to your future happiness. Oh! If he is inspired by your genius and learns to paint, then What a joy it is!"

Eleanor told her sister what she really thought in her heart.She didn't see her love for Edward so brightly as Marianne imagined, and the ending was perfect.He seemed listless at times, and if that wasn't a sign of aloofness, it was a sign that things weren't looking good for the two of them.If he had doubts about Eleanor's feelings, it would not have made him so, it would have been a matter of worry, and it was impossible to always be so downcast.There may be a more reasonable reason for this: his position cannot be autonomous, which makes him unable to act emotionally.

Eleanor knew that his mother would neither allow him to make his present home more comfortable, nor allow him to start a family on his own, if he did not strictly follow the path of making a fortune his mother had laid out for him. .Eleanor knew this well, and it was impossible to feel at ease.She did not believe in the outcome of his affection for her, and only her own mother and sister still felt sure.No, the longer they spent together, the more elusive his affections seemed to be.Sometimes, she thought it was just friendship, and the thought made her suffer for a few minutes.

Although Edward's affection was restrained, his sister noticed it, and it was enough to disturb her and make her uncomfortable, and at the same time, she became more rude and rude.As soon as she seized the opportunity, she taunted her mother-in-law, talking pompously about her brother's great prospects, Mrs. Ferrars' determination to marry high relatives for both sons, and threatening that if anyone's A girl who dares to lure him into the bait will definitely not end well.Mrs. Dashwood could neither pretend to be ignorant nor to feign composure in such a blunt remark.She returned a scornful salute, and went out of the room, thinking that however inconvenient it might be, and however expensive it might be, she must move at once, not even a week longer, and that she would not let dear Eleanor Put up with such insinuations.

While she was in this state of mind, Mrs. Dashwood received a letter from a relation, with a very timely proposal, of a small house to let at a very cheap price.The relative was a rich and powerful gentleman in Devonshire.His letter was written with sincerity and a spirit of friendship and help.He said he knew she needed a place to live, and though the house he was offering her was just a country house, he assured her that if she was satisfied with the place, he would fix it up and make it ready for her needs. everything.

After he had given the particulars of the house and gardens, he cordially invited her, together with the daughters, to come as soon as possible to his lodgings, Barton Park, to weigh in and see Barton Cottage (for both houses were on the same Diocese) to her liking.It seems that this gentleman is really anxious about their needs and really wants to provide them with housing. The whole letter is written so friendly, how could a cousin be unhappy after reading it?Especially when she was angry at being neglected by close relatives.She couldn't wait to think about it carefully, asked many questions, and made up her mind after reading.Barton is in Devon, a long way from Sussex.A few hours ago, she would have rejected the place on the basis of this one disadvantage, even though it might have had all the other advantages, and this disadvantage now became its most desirable place.Moving out of the Nolan area is no longer a misfortune, but has become the goal of one's heart and soul. Compared with continuing to live under the fence of the daughter-in-law's family and swallowing her anger, this is a particularly lucky thing.Although Norland Manor is a lovely and memorable place, with such a woman as the housewife here, it is much more comfortable to leave forever than to stay here.She immediately wrote to Sir John Middleton, thanked him for his kindness, and accepted his proposal.Then she hastily showed the two letters to her daughters, in order to obtain their consent to send this reply.

Eleanor always believed that, for the sake of prudence, it was better for them to stay away from Nolan Manor, rather than being caught among the current group of people.On that point, therefore, she did not object to her mother's intention to move to Devon.In addition, from Sir John's letter, the rent of that house was surprisingly low because it was relatively simple, so she had no reason to object to such an economical rent.Therefore, although the project did not fascinate her, and although she did not want to stay away from the Norland Park area, she did not dissuade her mother from sending the letter of approval.

(End of this chapter)