"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.