Pride and Prejudice; Sense and Sensibility

Chapter 95 "Faith" is a lot of things (1)
Early the next morning, before the sun had risen, and the maids had not yet come to light the fire, it was a January morning, when the weather was still cold and dark, and Marianne, not even fully dressed, knelt in the In front of a window seat, while weeping unceasingly, while using the only little light there, I wrote vigorously.Eleanor was awakened by her violent sobbing, and found her in this state.She watched her in anxious silence for a long time, and then said in a tone of tenderness and tenderness:
"Marian, may I ask you a question?"

"No, Eleanor," replied Marianne, "you don't ask anything, for you will soon understand."

She seemed calm when she said it, but in fact she was desperate.As soon as she had finished speaking, she could no longer hold back, and immediately burst into tears of grief.Several minutes elapsed before she continued to write the letter, and now and again she was obliged to stop by fits of sobbing, which fully confirmed Elinor's presentiment that Marianne must be writing her last letter to Willoughby. a letter,

Eleanor watched Marian silently, not daring to disturb her at will.She would have calmed her sister down with some kindly reassurance, but Marianne was extremely nervous and fretful, and begged her eagerly not to speak to her.In this case, it is better not to stay together for a long time.Marianne was restless, and could not stay in the room for a moment when she was dressed, but wanted to be alone and to walk up and down, so she avoided the crowd and wandered about the house until breakfast.

At breakfast, she didn't eat anything, and she didn't even feel like eating.This was a real concern to Eleanor, who was too busy trying to get Mrs. Jennings's attention to herself, so that she neither urged her to eat nor showed any concern for her, as if she had not noticed her.

Mrs. Jennings was so fond of the meal that it lasted a long time.After dinner, as soon as everyone was seated at the sewing table, the servant brought a letter to Marianne.Marianne snatched it impatiently, only to see that her face was pale, and she ran out of the room in an instant.Elinor knew at this sight that the letter must be from Willoughby, as if she had seen the name and address on the envelope.Immediately, a revulsion surged in her heart, and she was so uncomfortable that she could hardly lift her head.She sat there trembling, lest she escape Mrs. Jennings' attention.Luckily the good lady only saw that Marianne had received Willoughby's letter, which seemed to her to be another good joke, so she laughed, and said she hoped she would receive it. The letter was just what she liked.She was busy measuring the wool for the rug, and Elinor's distressed appearance was not noticed by her.As soon as Marianne had run out, she resumed the conversation with ease:
"To tell you the truth, I've never seen such an infatuated girl in my life! My daughters can't compare to her, but they used to be stupid enough. As for Miss Marianne, she has changed a lot. From the bottom of my heart I hope Willoughby won't keep her waiting too long, for it is very sad to see her so ill. When will they marry, please?"

Although Eleanor had never wanted to speak as much as now, she couldn't ignore the provocation of this kind of cross-examination, so she replied with a forced face and a smile: "Madam, from what you said, do you really think my sister Engaged to Willoughby? I thought you were only joking, but you ask it with such seriousness that it doesn't seem so simple, so I must ask you to stop misinterpreting it. I will tell you the truth, a Nothing would surprise me more than to hear that the two of them are to be married."

"Not ashamed, not ashamed, Miss Dashwood: thank you for being able to say it! Didn't they hit each other from the first meeting? Didn't we all know they were going to marry? Didn't I know your sister and I'm in town for a wedding dress? Come on, come on, don't do that. Don't think the rest of the world have any brains if you're so evasive about it yourself. But I can tell you, That's not the case at all, as a matter of fact, the whole town has known about it for a long time. I tell everyone, and so does Charlotte."

"Indeed, ma'am," said Elinor, very gravely, "you are mistaken. It is very unkind of you to spread the news. Though you will not believe me now, you will always find yourself in the wrong gone."

Mrs. Jennings laughed again, but Elinor had no heart to say any more.Eager to know what Willoughby had written, she hurried back to her room.When I opened the door, I saw Marianne lying stretched out on the bed, weeping with grief, clutching a letter in her hand, and two or three more beside her.Eleanor came up to her without speaking.She sat down on the bed, took her sister's hand, kissed it affectionately, and then burst into tears with a heart that was at first almost like Marianne's.Marianne, though speechless, seemed to feel the affection of her sister's gesture, and after they wept together in this way for a while, she put the letters into Elinor's hands, and covered them with her handkerchief. face, almost screaming in grief.Elinor was horrified to see her so distressed, but she also knew that in such a case she had to go with the flow, and that there must be reasons for it, and she watched till the excruciating distress abated a little. , she hastily opened Willoughby's letter, and read:

Dear Miss:
It has been an honor to read your letter just now, and for that please allow me to express my sincere thanks to you.I find with some disquiet that my behavior last night did not please you.Although I don't know where I unfortunately offended you, I beg you to forgive me, I can assure you that it was unintentional.When I think of my former association with your family in Devonshire, I am so grateful and gratified that I am presumptuous to think that if I have acted a little improperly, or caused some misunderstanding, I will be fine. It will not destroy this kind of friendship. I have always respected your whole family, and this is also out of sincere friendship.But if, unfortunately, it leads you to think that I have other thoughts or other meanings, it is due to my indiscretion in paying this homage, which I deeply blame myself for.You just have to know that I've meant someone else and been engaged to him, and you know I can't mean anything else, and we're going to be married in a few weeks.It is with great regret that I am now ordered to return the letter which I had the honor to receive and the lock of hair which you kindly gifted me.

your humble servant

John Willoughby

written in bond street in january
With what indignation Miss Dashwood must have read such a letter may be imagined!Although she knew before reading it that this must be a confession of his own betrayal, confirming that they would sever relations forever, she never thought that he could use such intolerable language!Nor could she imagine how Willoughby, with such sanctimonious disregard for gentlemanly decency, could have sent such a shameless, vicious letter in which he wished to break off the engagement, with no sign of remorse, no sign of remorse. Admit that you have broken your promise and deny that you have had any special feelings.In this letter, every word and line is full of slander, which shows that the writer is a heinous, evil and shameless person!
Elinor brooded for a while, startled and angry, and read it several times, each time hating Willoughby more and more.For she hated him so much that she dared not speak, for fear of offending Marianne by speaking ill of him, and making her still more distressed.She thought that her sister had lost nothing by their breaking off the engagement, but had saved her from one of the most unfortunate and terrible disasters, a marriage to a shameless man, a real relief, a thing. What a blessing.

Eleanor was preoccupied with the content of the letter, with the baseness of the writer, and even with the thoughts of a very different person, who had nothing to do with the matter in the first place, but only subjectively. It connects him to everything that just happened.In her meditations, Elinor forgot her sister's present distress, forgot that she had three unread letters on her lap, and was completely oblivious to the long time she had been in the house.Just then she heard a carriage approaching the door, and she got up and went to the window to see who had come so unkindly so early.Seeing that it was Mrs. Jennings's carriage, she could not help being startled, for she knew that the master would not order the harness until one o'clock.Though she could not comfort Marianne at the present time, she did not want to leave her alone, and she hastened out to tell Mrs. Jennings that she was obliged to leave her sister because of her ill health.Mrs. Jennings, in the midst of her delight, showed very considerate concern, and immediately agreed.After Eleanor sent her away, she went back to Marianne, and saw her trying to get up from the bed, dizzy from lack of food and sleep for a long time. Fortunately, Eleanor was just in time. He rushed over and supported her so that she didn't fall to the floor.For many days, she did not think about tea and food during the day, and did not sleep well at night. Now, once she lost the original anxious expectation in her heart, she could no longer support it.Elinor at once brought her a glass of wine, which made her feel better.Finally, she finally felt Eleanor's concern for her, and said:

"Poor Eleanor, I have made you miserable!"

"I only hope," replied my sister, "that there is something I can do to make it easier for you."

Marianne could not bear this, as much as any other.She uttered only one cry, "Oh, Elinor, how miserable I am!" and broke down in sobs, in the agony of her heart.

Elinor could not contain herself any longer to see her so miserable.

"Marianne, if you don't want to torture yourself and your kindred to death," she cried, "please cheer up. Think of your mother, and as you suffer, think of her pain. For She, you have to pull yourself together."

"I can't, I can't," cried Marianne; "if I trouble you, leave me, leave me; leave me, hate me, forget me, but don't torment me so much." Humph! I have nothing to worry about, so it is easy to talk about cheering up. Eleanor, who is so happy, how can you know how painful I am!"

(End of this chapter)