(This conversation will contain spoilers for the current chapters and possibly for future chapters.)

“There is no use in staying here; I must be off.” 

– John Willoughby

S: We start off this section with Edward and Lucy accepting the Colonel’s offer, and with Elinor making a visit to her brother’s. I have a few thoughts on the beginning of this chapter regarding John and Robert. I still feel John Dashwood could have been a good brother, had wealth, and marrying into the family that he did, not enhanced his self-centeredness. Robert, too, really annoys me. He’s so much the opposite of Edward, yet still rather different from his sister and mother. He just seems so disconnected from reality, and doesn’t even really know his brother. 

R: John and Robert are both kind of clueless in their own ways. They are certainly both weak men. And John informs Elinor that Mrs. Ferrars would have found her a far less objectionable wife for Edward than Lucy. I can’t imagine how that made her feel, and I’m sure listening to Robert’s idiodic assessment of his brother’s situation didn’t help any. 

S: When Fanny finally graces Elinor with her presence we are even more convinced that, for some reason, Fanny really doesn’t like Elinor or Marianne. I wonder if it’s because she wants to be a kinder person but doesn’t know how, and Elinor’s sense shames her?

R: You are much kinder toward Fanny than I am! I feel like she has the same sentiment as John (or rather, John expressed her sentiments to Elinor) and Fanny is confused by the way she had previously treated Elinor while thinking that she would have been a far, far superior sister to Lucy. 

I think it’s funny that Elinor is amused that everyone seems convinced that she’s going to be marrying Colonel Brandon.

S: Yes, that is rather amusing! I was excited that the Miss Dashwoods and Mrs. Jennings finally leave London. Mrs. Palmer is as giggly as ever, yet we do see Mr. Palmer a little more at ease in his own home (which, if one is an introvert with a loud wife and mother-in-law, makes so much sense!). I still don’t like the attitude he has toward Charlotte and Mrs. Jennings, but there we are. 

R: I hadn’t thought about Mr. Palmer that way. I often feel that way about coming home after a long visit with people, even those that I enjoy being around.

S: Marianne’s excitement to be back in the country and able to explore and think her thoughts without anyone asking how she feels is one I have felt keenly. Sometimes it’s just nice to be alone and think. I see Marianne becoming more like Elinor in these last few chapters because she takes confidence in no one and enjoys solitude. 

R: I agree, but I think this could be a continuation of her melancholy over Willoughby. Austen writes, ‘Marianne entered the house with a heart swelling with emotion from the consciousness of being only eighty miles from Barton, and not thirty from Combe Magna…she quitted it again…to gain a distant eminence; where, from its Grecian temple, her eye, wandering over a wide tract of country to the southeast, could fondly rest on the farthest ridge of hills in the horizon, and fancy that from their summits Combe Magna might be seen. In such moments of precious, invaluable misery, she rejoiced in tears of agony to be at Cleveland…’ Marianne is happy to be away from London where she might run into Willoughby, but she’s still mourning over what she feels she’s lost.

S: I can see that. She still is only a teenager, after all, and oh, teenage emotions! 

I am surprised that Elinor blinded herself to the seriousness of Marianne’s affliction, but I suppose that might be because she had finally gained a friend in Marianne for the first time and, as she had already lost her love, she didn’t want another bad thing to happen. 

And Poor Colonel Brandon! The reader, of course, has known all along that he loves Marianne and this fear and anxiety in him shows it even more. I do love that Mrs. Jennings takes everything in hand, chooses to stay with Elinor and Marianne, and tries to keep Elinor from false hope of Marianne’s recovery, but also from complete despair. 

R: Mrs. Jennings proves to be a rock; in fact, she shows a level of care we haven’t seen from her thus far. I liked this line: ‘‘Mrs. Jennings…with a kindness of heart which made Elinor really love her, declared her resolution of not stirring from Cleveland as long as Marianne remained ill.’ As annoying as she’s been throughout the book, Mrs. Jennings shows that she really cares about the girls.

S: Finally, as Marianne has reached the point of less, if any, danger, who should enter but Willoughby!

R: I had completely forgotten about this part of the book, so I was surprised when he showed up. Poor Elinor, the unwilling confidant of everyone! 

S: I think we see, too, that Elinor has reached the end of her tether with being a confidant. Her sharp tongue has come out more often as of late. 

I still don’t know how I feel about Willoughby. Although he wants pity, and that makes me not want to pity him, I pity him nonetheless. Because of his choices he can now never have who he truly loved, and is married to a wife he very much dislikes. I’m happy he chose to tell Elinor the truth so she could relay it to Marianne, but his actions have been cowardly and it all goes back to money and not waiting to do things in their proper time. I don’t know if we’ll meet up with him again in the book, but if we do I certainly hope we see him raise his children (if he has any) to make better choices than he did so as to not live with such regret.

I do like that Elinor doesn’t allow him to indulge himself in thoughts of Marianne in her presence. Although he has told her his marriage will be without happiness, she still encourages him to stay true to it. He hears what she says, but I’m not sure he takes it to heart, for his parting words show how much he dislikes, we are able to guess, the Colonel. Strangely, Willoughby is the only one other than Elinor who sees Brandon’s love for Marianne. Is that strange? Perhaps when one is in love with someone it’s easier to see if someone else also loves the one you do.

R: Elinor holds Willoughby’s feet to the fire, for sure! And we get the surprising revelation that Willoughby a) is perhaps not quite the cad we thought (a tiny bit), b) he very much regrets his behavior, and c) he is most certainly receiving his comeuppance. We learn that it was his wife who dictated the final letter Willoughby sent to Marianne, and that while he started out just planning to have a dalliance with Marianne, he did come to truly care for her. And he gains a measure of Elinor’s pity. I can’t say I feel the same. He acted abysmally, both to Marianne and to Eliza. 

S: Finally, Mrs. Dashwood arrives not only to find Marianne out of danger, but to give her version of events. She, apparently, believes now that Colonel Brandon will soon ask for Marianne’s hand (although she has no real proof). Her mother’s ‘natural embellishments’ make me roll my eyes, as does her assertion that she had always seen something in Willoughby’s eyes that was not quite right. I seem to recall that, when Elinor questioned Willoughby, Mrs. Dashwood adamantly reprimanded her. Isn’t it funny how our present emotions colour the past? I find that sometimes I remember things much worse than they really were, or I remember things as much better depending on what mood I’m in. The brain and heart play so many tricks!

R: I’m not too surprised by Mrs. Dashwood’s confidence in Colonel Brandon since he confessed his love for Marianne to her, but I have to wonder if it’s a mother’s blindness to her daughter’s faults that make her believe that Marianne will definitely accept him or mother’s intuition. Based on Marianne’s comments earlier in the book about the Colonel’s ‘advanced age’, I wouldn’t be nearly so certain as Mrs. Dashwood seems to be. We have seen her changing perspectives, but her mother hasn’t.

S: I am excited to see what happens to Marianne and the Colonel, and I so want happiness to come to Elinor as well! I’m excited to only have five more chapters until the end, but I also feel a sense of trepidation. Will Edward break his promise to Lucy and go to Elinor because of love? Will someone else come and sweep Elinor off her feet? Will Marianne accept the Colonel (providing Willoughby and Mrs. Dashwood are both correct in their expectation of the Colonel asking her to marry him)? And, perhaps the most important question of all, where is Margaret?

R: Good questions, all. We shall soon see! Only five chapters left!