feat_summary_path: finished_summaries/gradesaver/Sense and Sensibility/section_4_part_8.txt
feat_book_id: Sense and Sensibility.chapter 48
feat_summary_id: chapter 48
feat_summary: {"name": "Chapter 48", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20210419170735/https://www.gradesaver.com/sense-and-sensibility/study-guide/summary-chapters-41-50", "summary": "Although Elinor knew before that Edward and Lucy would probably be married, she is still pained at the news, since she had hope that they might be separated by some mischance. She wishes to hear more news, but none comes; they expect Colonel Brandon any day, so Elinor can ask him if the couple are indeed settled at Delaford. Elinor is convinced that the Colonel has arrived at the cottage, but is surprised to find that it is Edward instead. They all try to hide their anxiety, and their conversation is awkward at best; but, when Mrs. Dashwood inquires about his wife, he informs them that it is his brother who has been married to Lucy, and not him. Elinor immediately runs from the room, crying out of joy; Edward then senses Elinor's regard for him, and is very happy too.", "analysis": "This new development has hardly been foreshadowed in Austen's text; Robert and Lucy hardly seemed to know each other before in town, and Robert had proclaimed Lucy plain and undesirable before. Their personalities being similar, and their scruples almost nonexistent, it is perhaps not a surprise that they would be drawn together. However, perhaps it is a failure of Austen's that this is a bombshell with absolutely no prior indications, and seems more like a convenient development than a natural event in the text"}
text: 
  
  Elinor now found the difference between the expectation of an
  unpleasant event, however certain the mind may be told to consider it,
  and certainty itself.  She now found, that in spite of herself, she had
  always admitted a hope, while Edward remained single, that something
  would occur to prevent his marrying Lucy; that some resolution of his
  own, some mediation of friends, or some more eligible opportunity of
  establishment for the lady, would arise to assist the happiness of all.
  But he was now married; and she condemned her heart for the lurking
  flattery, which so much heightened the pain of the intelligence.
  
  That he should be married soon, before (as she imagined) he could be in
  orders, and consequently before he could be in possession of the
  living, surprised her a little at first.  But she soon saw how likely
  it was that Lucy, in her self-provident care, in her haste to secure
  him, should overlook every thing but the risk of delay.  They were
  married, married in town, and now hastening down to her uncle's.  What
  had Edward felt on being within four miles from Barton, on seeing her
  mother's servant, on hearing Lucy's message!
  
  They would soon, she supposed, be settled at Delaford.--Delaford,--that
  place in which so much conspired to give her an interest; which she
  wished to be acquainted with, and yet desired to avoid.  She saw them
  in an instant in their parsonage-house; saw in Lucy, the active,
  contriving manager, uniting at once a desire of smart appearance with
  the utmost frugality, and ashamed to be suspected of half her
  economical practices;--pursuing her own interest in every thought,
  courting the favour of Colonel Brandon, of Mrs. Jennings, and of every
  wealthy friend.  In Edward--she knew not what she saw, nor what she
  wished to see;--happy or unhappy,--nothing pleased her; she turned away
  her head from every sketch of him.
  
  Elinor flattered herself that some one of their connections in London
  would write to them to announce the event, and give farther
  particulars,--but day after day passed off, and brought no letter, no
  tidings.  Though uncertain that any one were to blame, she found fault
  with every absent friend.  They were all thoughtless or indolent.
  
  "When do you write to Colonel Brandon, ma'am?" was an inquiry which
  sprung from the impatience of her mind to have something going on.
  
  "I wrote to him, my love, last week, and rather expect to see, than to
  hear from him again.  I earnestly pressed his coming to us, and should
  not be surprised to see him walk in today or tomorrow, or any day."
  
  This was gaining something, something to look forward to.  Colonel
  Brandon must have some information to give.
  
  Scarcely had she so determined it, when the figure of a man on
  horseback drew her eyes to the window.  He stopt at their gate.  It was
  a gentleman, it was Colonel Brandon himself.  Now she could hear more;
  and she trembled in expectation of it.  But--it was NOT Colonel
  Brandon--neither his air--nor his height.  Were it possible, she must
  say it must be Edward.  She looked again.  He had just dismounted;--she
  could not be mistaken,--it WAS Edward.  She moved away and sat down.
  "He comes from Mr. Pratt's purposely to see us.  I WILL be calm; I WILL
  be mistress of myself."
  
  In a moment she perceived that the others were likewise aware of the
  mistake.  She saw her mother and Marianne change colour; saw them look
  at herself, and whisper a few sentences to each other.  She would have
  given the world to be able to speak--and to make them understand that
  she hoped no coolness, no slight, would appear in their behaviour to
  him;--but she had no utterance, and was obliged to leave all to their
  own discretion.
  
  Not a syllable passed aloud.  They all waited in silence for the
  appearance of their visitor.  His footsteps were heard along the gravel
  path; in a moment he was in the passage, and in another he was before
  them.
  
  His countenance, as he entered the room, was not too happy, even for
  Elinor.  His complexion was white with agitation, and he looked as if
  fearful of his reception, and conscious that he merited no kind one.
  Mrs. Dashwood, however, conforming, as she trusted, to the wishes of
  that daughter, by whom she then meant in the warmth of her heart to be
  guided in every thing, met with a look of forced complacency, gave him
  her hand, and wished him joy.
  
  He coloured, and stammered out an unintelligible reply.  Elinor's lips
  had moved with her mother's, and, when the moment of action was over,
  she wished that she had shaken hands with him too.  But it was then too
  late, and with a countenance meaning to be open, she sat down again and
  talked of the weather.
  
  Marianne had retreated as much as possible out of sight, to conceal her
  distress; and Margaret, understanding some part, but not the whole of
  the case, thought it incumbent on her to be dignified, and therefore
  took a seat as far from him as she could, and maintained a strict
  silence.
  
  When Elinor had ceased to rejoice in the dryness of the season, a very
  awful pause took place.  It was put an end to by Mrs. Dashwood, who
  felt obliged to hope that he had left Mrs. Ferrars very well.  In a
  hurried manner, he replied in the affirmative.
  
  Another pause.
  
  Elinor resolving to exert herself, though fearing the sound of her own
  voice, now said,
  
  "Is Mrs. Ferrars at Longstaple?"
  
  "At Longstaple!" he replied, with an air of surprise.-- "No, my mother
  is in town."
  
  "I meant," said Elinor, taking up some work from the table, "to inquire
  for Mrs. EDWARD Ferrars."
  
  She dared not look up;--but her mother and Marianne both turned their
  eyes on him.  He coloured, seemed perplexed, looked doubtingly, and,
  after some hesitation, said,--
  
  "Perhaps you mean--my brother--you mean Mrs.--Mrs. ROBERT Ferrars."
  
  "Mrs. Robert Ferrars!"--was repeated by Marianne and her mother in an
  accent of the utmost amazement;--and though Elinor could not speak,
  even HER eyes were fixed on him with the same impatient wonder.  He
  rose from his seat, and walked to the window, apparently from not
  knowing what to do; took up a pair of scissors that lay there, and
  while spoiling both them and their sheath by cutting the latter to
  pieces as he spoke, said, in a hurried voice,
  
  "Perhaps you do not know--you may not have heard that my brother is
  lately married to--to the youngest--to Miss Lucy Steele."
  
  His words were echoed with unspeakable astonishment by all but Elinor,
  who sat with her head leaning over her work, in a state of such
  agitation as made her hardly know where she was.
  
  "Yes," said he, "they were married last week, and are now at Dawlish."
  
  Elinor could sit it no longer.  She almost ran out of the room, and as
  soon as the door was closed, burst into tears of joy, which at first
  she thought would never cease.  Edward, who had till then looked any
  where, rather than at her, saw her hurry away, and perhaps saw--or even
  heard, her emotion; for immediately afterwards he fell into a reverie,
  which no remarks, no inquiries, no affectionate address of Mrs.
  Dashwood could penetrate, and at last, without saying a word, quitted
  the room, and walked out towards the village--leaving the others in the
  greatest astonishment and perplexity on a change in his situation, so
  wonderful and so sudden;--a perplexity which they had no means of
  lessening but by their own conjectures.
  
  
  
feat_summary_name: Chapter 48
target: Although Elinor knew before that Edward and Lucy would probably be married, she is still pained at the news, since she had hope that they might be separated by some mischance. She wishes to hear more news, but none comes; they expect Colonel Brandon any day, so Elinor can ask him if the couple are indeed settled at Delaford. Elinor is convinced that the Colonel has arrived at the cottage, but is surprised to find that it is Edward instead. They all try to hide their anxiety, and their conversation is awkward at best; but, when Mrs. Dashwood inquires about his wife, he informs them that it is his brother who has been married to Lucy, and not him. Elinor immediately runs from the room, crying out of joy; Edward then senses Elinor's regard for him, and is very happy too.
feat_summary_analysis: This new development has hardly been foreshadowed in Austen's text; Robert and Lucy hardly seemed to know each other before in town, and Robert had proclaimed Lucy plain and undesirable before. Their personalities being similar, and their scruples almost nonexistent, it is perhaps not a surprise that they would be drawn together. However, perhaps it is a failure of Austen's that this is a bombshell with absolutely no prior indications, and seems more like a convenient development than a natural event in the text