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1The Miss Dashwoods had now been rather more than two months in town, and Marianne's impatience to be gone increased
2every day. She sighed for the air, the liberty, the quiet of the country; and fancied that if any place could give her
3ease, Barton must do it. Elinor was hardly less anxious than herself for their removal, and only so much less bent on
4its being effected immediately, as that she was conscious of the difficulties of so long a journey, which Marianne could
5not be brought to acknowledge. She began, however, seriously to turn her thoughts towards its accomplishment, and had
6already mentioned their wishes to their kind hostess, who resisted them with all the eloquence of her good-will, when a
7plan was suggested, which, though detaining them from home yet a few weeks longer, appeared to Elinor altogether much
8more eligible than any other. The Palmers were to remove to Cleveland about the end of March, for the Easter holidays;
9and Mrs. Jennings, with both her friends, received a very warm invitation from Charlotte to go with them. This would
10not, in itself, have been sufficient for the delicacy of Miss Dashwood;--but it was inforced with so much real
11politeness by Mr. Palmer himself, as, joined to the very great amendment of his manners towards them since her sister
12had been known to be unhappy, induced her to accept it with pleasure. When she told Marianne what she had done, however,
13her first reply was not very auspicious. "Cleveland!"--she cried, with great agitation. "No, I cannot go to Cleveland."
14"You forget," said Elinor gently, "that its situation is not--that it is not in the neighbourhood of--" "But it is in
15Somersetshire.--I cannot go into Somersetshire.--There, where I looked forward to going...No, Elinor, you cannot expect
16me to go there." Elinor would not argue upon the propriety of overcoming such feelings;--she only endeavoured to
17counteract them by working on others;--represented it, therefore, as a measure which would fix the time of her returning
18to that dear mother, whom she so much wished to see, in a more eligible, more comfortable manner, than any other plan
19could do, and perhaps without any greater delay. From Cleveland, which was within a few miles of Bristol, the distance
20to Barton was not beyond one day, though a long day's journey; and their mother's servant might easily come there to
21attend them down; and as there could be no occasion of their staying above a week at Cleveland, they might now be at
22home in little more than three weeks' time. As Marianne's affection for her mother was sincere, it must triumph with
23little difficulty, over the imaginary evils she had started. Mrs. Jennings was so far from being weary of her guests,
24that she pressed them very earnestly to return with her again from Cleveland. Elinor was grateful for the attention, but
25it could not alter her design; and their mother's concurrence being readily gained, every thing relative to their return
26was arranged as far as it could be;--and Marianne found some relief in drawing up a statement of the hours that were yet
27to divide her from Barton. "Ah! Colonel, I do not know what you and I shall do without the Miss Dashwoods;"--was Mrs.
28Jennings's address to him when he first called on her, after their leaving her was settled--"for they are quite resolved
29upon going home from the Palmers;--and how forlorn we shall be, when I come back!--Lord! we shall sit and gape at one
30another as dull as two cats." Perhaps Mrs. Jennings was in hopes, by this vigorous sketch of their future ennui, to
31provoke him to make that offer, which might give himself an escape from it; and if so, she had soon afterwards good
32reason to think her object gained; for, on Elinor's moving to the window to take more expeditiously the dimensions of a
33print, which she was going to copy for her friend, he followed her to it with a look of particular meaning, and
34conversed with her there for several minutes. The effect of his discourse on the lady too, could not escape her
35observation, for though she was too honorable to listen, and had even changed her seat, on purpose that she might not
36hear, to one close by the piano forte on which Marianne was playing, she could not keep herself from seeing that Elinor
37changed colour, attended with agitation, and was too intent on what he said to pursue her employment. Still farther in
38confirmation of her hopes, in the interval of Marianne's turning from one lesson to another, some words of the Colonel's
39inevitably reached her ear, in which he seemed to be apologising for the badness of his house. This set the matter
40beyond a doubt. She wondered, indeed, at his thinking it necessary to do so; but supposed it to be the proper etiquette.
41What Elinor said in reply she could not distinguish, but judged from the motion of her lips, that she did not think that
42any material objection; and Mrs. Jennings commended her in her heart for being so honest. They then talked on for a few
43minutes longer without her catching a syllable, when another lucky stop in Marianne's performance brought her these
44words in the Colonel's calm voice,-- "I am afraid it cannot take place very soon." Astonished and shocked at so
45unlover-like a speech, she was almost ready to cry out, "Lord! what should hinder it?"--but checking her desire,
46confined herself to this silent ejaculation. "This is very strange!--sure he need not wait to be older." This delay on
47the Colonel's side, however, did not seem to offend or mortify his fair companion in the least, for on their breaking up
48the conference soon afterwards, and moving different ways, Mrs. Jennings very plainly heard Elinor say, and with a voice
49which showed her to feel what she said, "I shall always think myself very much obliged to you." Mrs. Jennings was
50delighted with her gratitude, and only wondered that after hearing such a sentence, the Colonel should be able to take
51leave of them, as he immediately did, with the utmost sang-froid, and go away without making her any reply! She had not
52thought her old friend could have made so indifferent a suitor. What had really passed between them was to this effect.
53"I have heard," said he, with great compassion, "of the injustice your friend Mr. Ferrars has suffered from his family;
54for if I understand the matter right, he has been entirely cast off by them for persevering in his engagement with a
55very deserving young woman. Have I been rightly informed? Is it so?;" Elinor told him that it was. "The cruelty, the
56impolitic cruelty," he replied, with great feeling, "of dividing, or attempting to divide, two young people long
57attached to each other, is terrible. Mrs. Ferrars does not know what she may be doing--what she may drive her son to. I
58have seen Mr. Ferrars two or three times in Harley Street, and am much pleased with him. He is not a young man with whom
59one can be intimately acquainted in a short time, but I have seen enough of him to wish him well for his own sake, and
60as a friend of yours, I wish it still more. I understand that he intends to take orders. Will you be so good as to tell
61him that the living of Delaford, now just vacant, as I am informed by this day's post, is his, if he think it worth his
62acceptance; but that, perhaps, so unfortunately circumstanced as he is now, it may be nonsense to appear to doubt; I
63only wish it were more valuable. It is a rectory, but a small one; the late incumbent, I believe, did not make more than
64200£ per annum, and though it is certainly capable of improvement, I fear, not to such an amount as to afford him a very
65comfortable income. Such as it is, however, my pleasure in presenting it to him, will be very great. Pray assure him of
66it."
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