Departure — Sense and Sensibility

Mrs. Dashwood remains at Norland for months while she searches for a smaller house near the place she cannot bear to leave. She still believes John will honor his father's wish until longer acquaintance with Fanny deepens her contempt. Edward Ferrars, Fanny's brother, spends much of his time at Norland and quietly wins the family's affection, though no one yet weighs what his dependence on his mother might cost. Mrs. Dashwood approves his attachment to Elinor without calculating fortune, though Edward's own income depends on his mother's will.

He is gentle and affectionate once shyness lifts, yet he lacks the brilliance his mother and sister crave; he wants domestic peace, not parliament or fashionable display. Mrs. Dashwood loves him chiefly because he is unlike Fanny and because Elinor returns his regard. Marianne, by contrast, finds Edward deficient in fire, poetry, and taste. She condemns his calm reading of Cowper and declares she requires a lover who shares every artistic passion. The contrast between the sisters' standards begins here: Elinor reads character and steadiness, Marianne demands romantic intensity. Their mother, already imagining a marriage, cannot see how Edward's dependence and reserve may complicate what looks like certainty. Mrs. Dashwood already speaks of Elinor's marriage as months away.