The Engagement — Sense and Sensibility

Mrs. Jennings spends days inventing disasters to explain Colonel Brandon's abrupt departure. Elinor's wonder is otherwise engaged: Willoughby and Marianne behave as lovers before the world yet never announce an engagement even to Mrs. Dashwood. Elinor sometimes doubts what their openness seems to prove, especially as Willoughby complains of poverty despite Sir John's estimate of six or seven hundred a year. He spends his days at the cottage, lavishing tenderness on Marianne and familial warmth on the rest. When Mrs. Dashwood mentions spring improvements, he protests that Barton Cottage must remain exactly as affection made it perfect, even wishing Combe Magna rebuilt on its plan.

He recalls longing last year that the cottage were inhabited and tells Marianne in a lowered voice that he felt prescient joy when he heard it was taken. He begs Mrs. Dashwood to keep herself and her home unchanged for him. The scene is ardent and assuring, yet Elinor still cannot reconcile their secrecy with their display. A week after Brandon leaves, Willoughby seems more openly devoted than ever, strengthening the family's confidence while deepening Elinor's uneasy questions about what has not been said. Mrs. Dashwood reads his vows as certainty while Elinor still waits for plain words.