Pride and Prejudice; Sense and Sensibility

Chapter 88

Marianne, who had always been intolerant of vulgarity, ignorance, or even those who did not share her own interests, was now in this state of mind, and naturally disliked Sister Steele all the more.They took the initiative to approach her, but she liked to ignore them.She was always so indifferent to each other that they couldn't get close to her.Eleanor believes that the main reason for their preference for her is that her sister always treats them coldly, which makes them unable to get close.And this preference soon became apparent from the Steele sisters' mannerisms.Lucy, in particular, never misses an opportunity to strike up a conversation with Eleanor, trying to improve their relationship by speaking naturally and frankly.

Lucy is well-behaved by nature, and her conversation is often pertinent and humorous.Elinor had only been with her for half an hour, and she found her modesty again and again.But her talents had not benefited from her education, she was ignorant and not very well-informed, she was ignorant of even the most elementary common sense, although she tried to appear superior.None of this could be concealed from Miss Dashwood.Eleanor could not help but feel sorry for her, because all the talents that could have been fully developed by her education were wasted.But what made her unable to sympathize was that, as could be seen from her courtesies and flattery at Barton Park, she was too dishonorable, dishonest, and dishonest.There was no way Eleanor could last long with such a person, because her hypocrisy, ignorance, and ignorance kept them from being on the same level in conversation, and by her attitude to others, she was to Eleanor Care and respect become worthless.

"I have a question, which you must find a little strange," Lucy said to her one day, as they were walking together from Barton Park to the cottage, "but just to ask: do you know your sister-in-law?" Your mother, Mrs. Ferrars?"

Elinor indeed found the question very strange, and when she replied that she had never seen Mrs. Ferrars, Lucy had a look of wonder on her face.

"Really!" replied Lucy. "I thought you must have seen her at Norland Park. So you can't tell me what she is like?"

"Yes," replied Eleanor, cautiously, neither wanting to reveal her true opinion of Edward's mother nor to satisfy impolite curiosity, "I know nothing about her."

"You must find it very strange that I should inquire about her in this way," said Lucy, looking warily at Eleanor, "but I have a reason for saying it—if I may venture to say it. But I want you to know that I didn't mean to offend you when I said this."

Eleanor answered politely, and they walked on in silence for some minutes.Lucy broke the silence, returned to the topic just now, and said with some hesitation:
"I can't let you think that I'm rude and inquisitive. I don't want you, a person worthy of my advice, to treat me like that. I believe that your praise is very worthy of me. I I dare say, I can trust you with confidence. Indeed, I am in a very embarrassing position, I do not know what to do, and I would like to hear your advice. However, there is no need to disturb you now. I am sorry, you Don't even know Mrs. Ferrars."

"If you really need to know about her from me," said Elinor, greatly surprised, "I'm sorry, I really don't know her. But really, I never knew you and There was nothing involved with that family, so, to tell you the truth, I was a little surprised to see you inquiring about her so seriously."

"You'll be surprised, and I'm certainly not surprised by that. But you won't be so if I'm bold enough to make it clear. It's true that Mrs. Ferrars has nothing to do with me at the moment—but There will be a day when we will be very close - as to when, that will be up to her."

As she spoke, she lowered her head with a shy expression.She just glanced sideways at Eleanor to see her reaction.

"My God!" cried Elinor, "what do you mean? Do you know Mr. Robert Ferrars? Is that possible?" The thought of such a sister-in-law in the future made her reluctant.

"No," replied Lucy, "not Mr. Robert Ferrars—I've never seen him. But," she fixed Elinor's eyes, "I know his brother."

How would Eleanor feel at this moment?She was taken aback!If she hadn't doubted this immediately, she might have been in so much pain.Surprised, she silently turned to Lucy, unable to figure out why she said this and what purpose she was holding.Although her complexion changed, she firmly believed in her heart that the matter was not credible, so she was confident that she would not have a hysterical fit or be in danger of fainting.

"You should be surprised," went on Lucy, "because you would never have thought of it before. I dare say he never revealed a word to you or any of your family, because we decided to absolutely To keep it a secret, I dare say, I have kept it secret up to now. None of my relations except Anne knew about it. I would never have told you if I had not been convinced of your secret. I After asking so much about Mrs. Ferrars, I thought you must be so surprised that I should explain. I think Mr. Ferrars would not be offended if he knew I had revealed it to you, because I Knowing that he values ​​your whole family the most, he treats all of you sisters as his own sisters." After she finished speaking, she stopped talking.

Eleanor was silent for a moment.When she heard these words for the first time, she was too surprised to speak for a moment, but she finally forced herself to speak.For the sake of caution, she pretended to be calm and calm enough to conceal her surprise and anxiety, and then said, "Excuse me, have you been engaged for a long time?"

"We've been engaged for four years."

"Four years?"

"Yes."

Although Eleanor was extremely shocked, she still couldn't believe it.

"Until that day," she said, "I didn't know you two knew each other, too."

"But we've known each other for years. He's been looked after by my uncle for a long time, you know."

"Your uncle!"

"Yes, Mr. Platt. You never heard him speak of Mr. Platt?"

"I wanted to hear it." Eleanor replied, the more excited she became, the more restrained she was.

"My uncle's was at Longstaple, near Plymouth. He lodged with my uncle four years ago. We met there, because my sister and I were often at his uncle's. We were engaged there, too, but That was a year after he came of age. He was almost always with us after that. As you can imagine, I wouldn't want to be engaged to him without her mother's approval and approval. But I was too young, and too fond of him then, to take due discretion. Miss Dashwood, you don't know him as I do, but you've seen him often, and you must know he's attractive, It's easy for a woman to fall in love with him."

"Of course." Eleanor replied incomprehensibly.But, after a moment's pondering, she regained her confidence in Edward's fidelity and love, and decided that her companion must be lying.Then she went on: "You are engaged to Mr. Edward Ferrars, and, to tell you the truth, I am surprised at the end of your speech, indeed—forgive me; but it must have been a mistake, or Wrong name, and we can't possibly be referring to the same Mr. Ferrars."

"We can't mean anyone else," cried Lucy, laughing. "Mr. Edward Ferrars, eldest son of Mrs. Parker Street, brother of Mrs. John Dashwood, your sister-in-law, is what I mean. That person. You will admit that I am not going to get the names of all the people on whom I put all my happiness wrong.”

"Strange," said Elinor, with heart-rending pathos and embarrassment, "that I never heard him mention your name."

"No. Not surprising, given our circumstances. Our first priority was secrecy. You didn't know me or my family at all at the time, so there was no need for him to mention my name to you. And he I was always afraid that her sister would be suspicious, which made him even more afraid to mention my name."

She stopped talking.Eleanor's self-confidence faded, but she did not lose her self-control.

"You've been engaged for four years," she said in a steady tone.

"Yes. Goodness knows how long we'll have to wait. Poor Edward! He's very downcast by it." Lucy took a small portrait from her pocket, and then continued, "Lest you be mistaken, please see Look at his face. Of course, the painting is not very similar, but I don't think you can't fail to see who is in this painting. I have kept this portrait for more than three years."

She said and put the portrait into Eleanor's hands.When Eleanor saw the portrait, although she was afraid of drawing hasty conclusions before, always thinking that the other party was lying and trying to find out the flaws, and there were still many doubts in her heart, she could no longer doubt it, because it was indeed Edward's. face.She immediately returned the portrait, admitting that it resembled Edward very much.

"I have never been able to return my portrait to him," continued Lucy, "and I am very troubled by it, as he has been longing for one, so I have resolved to have one painted as soon as I could."

"You're quite right," Eleanor replied calmly.Then they walked a few steps in silence, and finally Lucy spoke first.

"Really," said she, "I have no doubt that you will keep it a secret, for you must know how important it is to us that it should not reach his mother's ears. I I dare say she would never consent to the marriage. I don't expect to have any property in the future, and I think she is a very arrogant woman."

"Of course, I did not ask you to tell me the truth," said Eleanor, "but you could not be more just than to think me trustworthy. I will keep the secret for you. But with all due respect, I do wonder that you should tell me the truth so unnecessarily. You should know that my knowledge of the matter never makes it any safer."

As she spoke, she watched Lucy carefully, hoping to see something wrong in her face--perhaps to find that most of what she said was false.Unexpectedly, Lucy didn't change her face. "You would think," said Lucy, "that I must know you too well when I tell you all this. It is true that I have not known you very long, at least not directly, but A long time ago, I knew you and your family from other people's descriptions. When I saw you, I felt like an old friend reunited. Besides, I asked you about Edward's mother in such detail. Thought I should explain something to you. It's my misfortune that there is no one to ask for advice. Anne is the only one who knows, but she can't come up with an idea. She has no eyes at all. , so much has been done, and so much has been done, that I am always in a state of apprehension lest she should let it out. You must have seen that her tongue was not firm. I was terrified the other day when I heard Sir John mention Edward's name. Damn, I'm afraid she'll say it all at once. You can't imagine how much it has frightened me, and how much it has caused me. It amazes me that I have suffered so much for Edward these four years, To be alive now. It's all up in the air, uncertain, and seeing him so infrequently—twice a year at most. I can't believe my heart isn't broken."

Here she produced her handkerchief, but Elinor showed little sympathy for her.

"Sometimes," continued Lucy, wiping her eyes, "I think it might be better for both of us if we just let it go." And so, looking intently at her companion. "However, there are times when I just can't bear it. I can't stand the thought of doing this and it's going to hurt him because I know it's going to hurt him if I bring it up. It's for me. Think for yourself—I love him so much that I don't think I can break him. In the circumstances, Miss Dashwood, what do you say I should do? What would you do instead?"

The question surprised Eleanor. "I beg your pardon," she replied, "I can't think of anything under the circumstances. It's a matter for you to decide."

After a few minutes' silence between the two sides, Lucy continued: "There is no doubt that his mother will support him sooner or later. But poor Edward is so depressed about this matter! Didn't you find him dejected when he was in Barton? He was very sad when he came to you from Longstaple, and I am afraid you will think him seriously ill."

"So he came to visit us from your uncle's house that time?"

"Oh yes, he's been with us for two weeks. You thought he came straight from the city?"

"No," replied Elinor, feeling deeply that each new circumstance showed that Lucy was not lying. "I remember he told us that he was staying for a fortnight with some friends near Plymouth." She herself wondered why he didn't say anything about those friends, not even their names. Not to mention.

"Don't you think he's morose?" repeated Lucy.

"That's the way it is, especially when he first arrived."

"I begged him to restrain himself as much as possible, for I was afraid you might suspect that something was wrong. But he was very distressed at not being able to stay with us any longer, and seeing me so distressed. Poor man! I'm afraid he's still like that now, because he was in such a bad mood when he wrote the letter. I had a letter from him before I left Exeter." And she took the letter from her pocket, and casually showed it to Elinor. Looking at the name and address, "You can recognize his handwriting, which is beautiful. But this letter is not as neat as usual. He may be tired, but he just made do to fill a page."

It was indeed Edward's handwriting, and Elinor could no longer doubt it.She originally thought that the portrait might have been accidentally obtained by her, not necessarily a gift from Edward.But the correspondence between them must be true, for there is no other reason than that correspondence is possible only if they are engaged to be married.For a moment, she was almost overwhelmed by her emotions—the emotions plummeted, and she could hardly stand on her legs.But she absolutely had to hold on, and she struggled, fought her depression, and got it right away, and it worked out pretty well.

"During our long separation," said Lucy, putting the letter back in her pocket, "our only consolation was correspondence. Yes, I have another consolation, I have his portrait. But poor Edward Not even that. He said he would be much relieved if he could get my portrait. I gave him a lock of my hair on a ring last time he was in Longstaple, He said it would give him some consolation, but it was not worth a picture. Perhaps you noticed the ring when you saw him?"

"Notice," said Eleanor, and though her voice was calm, there was a thrill and pain in her heart that she had never felt before.She was humiliated, shocked and terrified.

Fortunately, they were at the cottage by then, and the conversation could not continue.Sister Steele sat with them for a few minutes, then took her leave and went back to the manor.Only then did Eleanor have time to think and suffer pain.

(End of this chapter)