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1One other short call in Harley Street, in which Elinor received her brother's congratulations on their travelling so far
2towards Barton without any expense, and on Colonel Brandon's being to follow them to Cleveland in a day or two,
3completed the intercourse of the brother and sisters in town;--and a faint invitation from Fanny, to come to Norland
4whenever it should happen to be in their way, which of all things was the most unlikely to occur, with a more warm,
5though less public, assurance, from John to Elinor, of the promptitude with which he should come to see her at Delaford,
6was all that foretold any meeting in the country. It amused her to observe that all her friends seemed determined to
7send her to Delaford;--a place, in which, of all others, she would now least chuse to visit, or wish to reside; for not
8only was it considered as her future home by her brother and Mrs. Jennings, but even Lucy, when they parted, gave her a
9pressing invitation to visit her there. Very early in April, and tolerably early in the day, the two parties from
10Hanover Square and Berkeley Street set out from their respective homes, to meet, by appointment, on the road. For the
11convenience of Charlotte and her child, they were to be more than two days on their journey, and Mr. Palmer, travelling
12more expeditiously with Colonel Brandon, was to join them at Cleveland soon after their arrival. Marianne, few as had
13been her hours of comfort in London, and eager as she had long been to quit it, could not, when it came to the point,
14bid adieu to the house in which she had for the last time enjoyed those hopes, and that confidence, in Willoughby, which
15were now extinguished for ever, without great pain. Nor could she leave the place in which Willoughby remained, busy in
16new engagements, and new schemes, in which she could have no share, without shedding many tears. Elinor's satisfaction,
17at the moment of removal, was more positive. She had no such object for her lingering thoughts to fix on, she left no
18creature behind, from whom it would give her a moment's regret to be divided for ever, she was pleased to be free
19herself from the persecution of Lucy's friendship, she was grateful for bringing her sister away unseen by Willoughby
20since his marriage, and she looked forward with hope to what a few months of tranquility at Barton might do towards
21restoring Marianne's peace of mind, and confirming her own. Their journey was safely performed. The second day brought
22them into the cherished, or the prohibited, county of Somerset, for as such was it dwelt on by turns in Marianne's
23imagination; and in the forenoon of the third they drove up to Cleveland. Cleveland was a spacious, modern-built house,
24situated on a sloping lawn. It had no park, but the pleasure-grounds were tolerably extensive; and like every other
25place of the same degree of importance, it had its open shrubbery, and closer wood walk, a road of smooth gravel winding
26round a plantation, led to the front, the lawn was dotted over with timber, the house itself was under the guardianship
27of the fir, the mountain-ash, and the acacia, and a thick screen of them altogether, interspersed with tall Lombardy
28poplars, shut out the offices. Marianne entered the house with a heart swelling with emotion from the consciousness of
29being only eighty miles from Barton, and not thirty from Combe Magna; and before she had been five minutes within its
30walls, while the others were busily helping Charlotte to show her child to the housekeeper, she quitted it again,
31stealing away through the winding shrubberies, now just beginning to be in beauty, to gain a distant eminence; where,
32from its Grecian temple, her eye, wandering over a wide tract of country to the south-east, could fondly rest on the
33farthest ridge of hills in the horizon, and fancy that from their summits Combe Magna might be seen. In such moments of
34precious, invaluable misery, she rejoiced in tears of agony to be at Cleveland; and as she returned by a different
35circuit to the house, feeling all the happy privilege of country liberty, of wandering from place to place in free and
36luxurious solitude, she resolved to spend almost every hour of every day while she remained with the Palmers, in the
37indulgence of such solitary rambles. She returned just in time to join the others as they quitted the house, on an
38excursion through its more immediate premises; and the rest of the morning was easily whiled away, in lounging round the
39kitchen garden, examining the bloom upon its walls, and listening to the gardener's lamentations upon blights, in
40dawdling through the green-house, where the loss of her favourite plants, unwarily exposed, and nipped by the lingering
41frost, raised the laughter of Charlotte,--and in visiting her poultry-yard, where, in the disappointed hopes of her
42dairy-maid, by hens forsaking their nests, or being stolen by a fox, or in the rapid decrease of a promising young
43brood, she found fresh sources of merriment. The morning was fine and dry, and Marianne, in her plan of employment
44abroad, had not calculated for any change of weather during their stay at Cleveland. With great surprise therefore, did
45she find herself prevented by a settled rain from going out again after dinner. She had depended on a twilight walk to
46the Grecian temple, and perhaps all over the grounds, and an evening merely cold or damp would not have deterred her
47from it; but a heavy and settled rain even she could not fancy dry or pleasant weather for walking. Their party was
48small, and the hours passed quietly away. Mrs. Palmer had her child, and Mrs. Jennings her carpet-work; they talked of
49the friends they had left behind, arranged Lady Middleton's engagements, and wondered whether Mr. Palmer and Colonel
50Brandon would get farther than Reading that night. Elinor, however little concerned in it, joined in their discourse;
51and Marianne, who had the knack of finding her way in every house to the library, however it might be avoided by the
52family in general, soon procured herself a book. Nothing was wanting on Mrs. Palmer's side that constant and friendly
53good humour could do, to make them feel themselves welcome. The openness and heartiness of her manner more than atoned
54for that want of recollection and elegance which made her often deficient in the forms of politeness; her kindness,
55recommended by so pretty a face, was engaging; her folly, though evident was not disgusting, because it was not
56conceited; and Elinor could have forgiven every thing but her laugh. The two gentlemen arrived the next day to a very
57late dinner, affording a pleasant enlargement of the party, and a very welcome variety to their conversation, which a
58long morning of the same continued rain had reduced very low. Elinor had seen so little of Mr. Palmer, and in that
59little had seen so much variety in his address to her sister and herself, that she knew not what to expect to find him
60in his own family. She found him, however, perfectly the gentleman in his behaviour to all his visitors, and only
61occasionally rude to his wife and her mother; she found him very capable of being a pleasant companion, and only
62prevented from being so always, by too great an aptitude to fancy himself as much superior to people in general, as he
63must feel himself to be to Mrs. Jennings and Charlotte. For the rest of his character and habits, they were marked, as
64far as Elinor could perceive, with no traits at all unusual in his sex and time of life. He was nice in his eating,
65uncertain in his hours; fond of his child, though affecting to slight it; and idled away the mornings at billiards,
66which ought to have been devoted to business. She liked him, however, upon the whole, much better than she had expected,
67and in her heart was not sorry that she could like him no more;--not sorry to be driven by the observation of his
68Epicurism, his selfishness, and his conceit, to rest with complacency on the remembrance of Edward's generous temper,
69simple taste, and diffident feelings.
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