MRS DASHWOOD
Is Mrs Ferrars at the new parish?
EDWARD looks extremely confused.
EDWARD
No--my mother is in town.
MRS DASHWOOD
I meant to enquire after Mrs Edward
Ferrars.
EDWARD colours. He hesitates.
EDWARD
Then you have not heard--the news--I
think you mean my brother--you mean
Mrs Robert Ferrars.
They all stare at him in shock.
MRS DASHWOOD
Mrs Robert Ferrars?
ELINOR has frozen. EDWARD rises and goes to the window.
EDWARD
Yes. I received a letter from Miss
Steele--or Mrs Ferrars, I should say--
communicating the... the transfer of
her affections to my brother Robert.
They were much thrown together in
London, I believe, and... and in
view of the change in my
circumstances, I felt it only fair
that Miss Steele be released from
our engagement. At any rate, they
were married last week and are now
in Plymouth.
ELINOR rises suddenly, EDWARD turns and they stand looking
at one another.
ELINOR
Then you--are not married.
EDWARD
No.
ELINOR bursts into tears. The shock of this emotional
explosion stuns everyone for a second and then MARIANNE makes
an executive decision. Wordlessly, she takes MARGARET's hand
and leads her and MRS DASHWOOD out of the room.
EDWARD
Elinor! I met Lucy when I was very
young. Had I had an active profession,
I should never have felt such an
idle, foolish inclination. At Norland
my behaviour was very wrong. But I
convinced myself you felt only
friendship for me and it was my heart
alone that I was risking. I have
come with no expectations. Only to
profess, now that I am at liberty to
do so, that my heart is and always
will be yours.
EDWARD stops walking. He looks at ELINOR and realises he can
stand it no longer.
EDWARD
Would you--can you--excuse me--
He takes her face in his hands and kisses her.
MRS DASHWOOD
Mr Willoughby! What a pleasure to
see you again!
WILLOUGHBY
The pleasure is all mine, I can
asstire you. I trust Miss Marianne
has not caught cold?
MARIANNE
You have found out my name!
WILLOUGHBY
Of course. The neighbourhood is
crawling with my spies.
He suddenly produces a bunch of wild flowers from behind his
back and offers them to MARIANNE with a courtly, humorous
bow.
WILLOUGHBY
And since you cannot venture out to
nature, nature must be brought to
you!
MARIANNE
How beautiful. These are not from
the hothouse.
WILLOUGHBY sees BRANDON's flowers.
WILLOUGHBY
Ah! I see mine is not the first
offering, nor the most elegant. I am
afraid I obtained these from an
obliging field.
MARIANNE
But I have always preferred wild
flowers!
WILLOUGHBY
I suspected as much.
WILLOUGHBY
Good morning, Miss Dashwood; good
morning, Colonel.
MARIANNE
The Colonel has invited us to
Delaford, Willoughby!
WILLOUGHBY
Excellent. I understand you have a
particularly fine pianoforte, Colonel.
The undercurrents of this conversation are decidedly tense.
COLONEL BRANDON
A Broadwood Grand.
MARIANNE
A Broadwood Grand! Then I shall really
be able to play for you!
WILLOUGHBY
We shall look forward to it!
MARIANNE smiles her perfect happiness at him and he whips up
the horses. They drive off, waving their farewells.
BRANDON looks after them for a silent moment, and then
collects himself and turns to ELINOR, who is less than
satisfied with their behaviour.
COLONEL BRANDON
Your sister seems very happy.
ELINOR
Yes. Marianne does not approve of
hiding her emotions. In fact, her
romantic prejudices have the
unfortunate tendency to set propriety
at naught.
COLONEL BRANDON
She is wholly unspoilt.
ELINOR
Rather too unspoilt, in my view. The
sooner she becomes acquainted with
the ways of the world, the better.
COLONEL BRANDON looks at her sharply and then speaks very
deliberately, as though controlling some powerful emotion.
COLONEL BRANDON
I knew a lady like your sister--the
same impulsive sweetness of temper--
who was forced into, as you put it,
a better acquaintance with the world.
The result was only ruination and
despair.
He stops, and briskly remounts his horse.
COLONEL BRANDON
Do not desire it, Miss Dashwood.
MARIANNE
There I fell, and there I first saw
Willoughby.
ELINOR
Poor Willoughby. He will always regret
you.
MARIANNE
But does it follow that, had he chosen
me, he would have been content?
ELINOR looks at MARIANNE, surprised.
MARIANNE
He would have had a wife he loved
but no money--and might soon have
learned to rank the demands of his
pocket-book far above the demands of
his heart.
ELINOR
Yes! He left us that morning, without
any explanation!
COLONEL BRANDON
Lady Allen had annulled his legacy.
He was left with next to nothing,
and in danger of losing all that
remained to his debtors--
ELINOR
--and so abandoned Marianne for Miss
Grey and her fifty thousand pounds.
BRANDON is silent. ELINOR is breathless.
COLONEL BRANDON
I would not have burdened you, Miss
Dashwood, had I not from my heart
believed it might, in time, lessen
your sister's regrets.
BRANDON moves to the door and then stops. He turns to her
and speaks with effort.
COLONEL BRANDON
I have described Mr Willoughby as
the worst of libertines--but I have
since learned from Lady Allen that
he did mean to propose that day.
Therefore I cannot deny that his
intentions towards Marianne were
honourable, and I feel certain he
would have married her, had it not
been for--for the money.
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