As this was a favourite meal with Mrs Jennings,it lasted a considerable time,and they were just setting themselves,after it,round the common work table,when a letter was delivered to Marianne,which she eagerly caught from the servant,and,turning of a death-like paleness,instantly ran out of the room.Elinor,who saw as plainly by this,as if she had seen the direction,that it must come from Willoughby,felt immediately such a sickness at heart as made her hardly able to hold up her head,and sat in such a general tremor as made her fear it impossible to escape Mrs Jennings's notice.That good lady,however,saw only that Marianne had received a letter from Willoughby,which appeared to her a very good joke,and which she treated accordingly,by hoping,with a laugh,that she would find it to her liking.Of Elinor's distress,she was too busily employed in measuring lengths of worsted for her rug,to see anything at all;and calmly continuing her talk,as soon as Marianne disappeared,she said-
‘Upon my word,I never saw a young woman so desperately in love in my life!My girls were nothing to her,and yet they used to be foolish enough;but as for Miss Marianne,she is quite an altered creature.I hope,from the bottom of my heart,he won't keep her waiting much longer,for it is quite grievous to see her look so ill and forlorn.Pray,when are they to be married?’
Elinor,though never less disposed to speak than at that moment,obliged herself to answer such an attack as this,and,therefore,trying to smile,replied,‘And have you really,ma'am,talked yourself into a persuasion of my sister's being engaged to Mr Willoughby?I thought it had been only a joke,but so serious a question seems to imply more:and I must beg,therefore,that you will not deceive yourself any longer.I do assure you that nothing would surprise me more than to hear of their being going to be married.’
‘For shame,for shame,Miss Dashwood!How can you talk so!Don't we all know that it must be a match-that they were over head and ears in love with each other from the first moment they met?Did not I see them together in Devonshire every day,and all day long?And did not I know that your sister came to town with me on purpose to buy wedding clothes?Come,come,this won't do.Because you are so sly about it yourself,you think nobody else has any senses;but it is no such thing,I can tell you,for it has been known all over the town this ever so long.I tell everybody of it,and so does Charlotte.’
‘Indeed,ma'am,’said Elinor very seriously,‘you are mistaken.Indeed,you are doing a very unkind thing in spreading the report,and you will find that you have,though you will not believe me now.’
Mrs Jennings laughed again,but Elinor had not spirits to say more,and eager at all events to know what Willoughby had written,hurried away to their room,where,on opening the door,she saw Marianne stretched on the bed,almost choked by grief,one letter in her hand,and two or three others lying by her.Elinor drew near,but without saying a word;and seating herself on the bed,took her hand,kissed her affectionately several times,and then gave way to a burst of tears,which at first was scarcely less violent than Marianne's.The latter,though unable to speak,seemed to feel all the tenderness of this behaviour,and after some time thus spent in joint affliction,she put all the letters into Elinor's hands;and then covering her face with her handkerchief,almost screamed with agony.Elinor,who knew that such grief,shocking as it was to witness it,must have its course,watched by her till this excess of suffering had somewhat spent itself,and then turning eagerly to Willoughby's letter,read as follows:
Bond Street,January.
My Dear Madam-I have just had the honour of receiving your letter,for which I beg to return my sincere acknowledgments.I am much concerned to find there was anything in my behaviour last night that did not meet your approbation;and though I am quite at a loss to discover in what point I could be so unfortunate as to offend you,I entreat your forgiveness of what I can assure you to have been perfectly unintentional.I shall never reflect on my former acquaintance with your family in Devonshire without the most grateful pleasure,and flatter myself it will not be broken by any mistake or misapprehension of my actions.My esteem for your whole family is very sincere;but if I have been so unfortunate as to give rise to a belief of more than I felt,or meant to express,I shall reproach myself for not having been more guarded in my professions of that esteem.That I should ever have meant more,you will allow to be impossible,when you understand that my affections have been long engaged elsewhere,and it will not be many weeks,I believe,before this engagement is fulfilled.It is with great regret that I obey your commands of returning the letters with which I have been honoured from you,and the lock of hair which you so obligingly bestowed on me.
I am,dear Madam,
Your most obedient
humble Servant,
John Willoughby.
With what indignation such a letter as this must be read by Miss Dashwood,may be imagined.Though aware,before she began it,that it must bring a confession of his inconstancy,and confirm their separation for ever,she was not aware that such language could be suffered to announce it!nor could she have supposed Willoughby capable of departing so far from the appearance of every honourable and delicate feeling-so far from the common decorum of a gentleman,as to send a letter so impudently cruel:a letter which,instead of bringing with his desire of a release any professions of regret,acknowledged no breach of faith,denied all peculiar affection whatever-a letter of which every line was an insult,and which proclaimed its writer to be deep in hardened villainy.