Miss Grey — Sense and Sensibility

Mrs. Jennings bursts in with gossip from Mrs. Taylor: Willoughby is to marry the wealthy Miss Grey within weeks. Marianne dines below in stunned silence, enduring well-meant food and chatter until repetition drives her from the room. Elinor learns Miss Grey has fifty thousand pounds and asks Mrs. Jennings to spare Marianne any further mention of Willoughby before the family or in public conversation. Mrs. Jennings, undeterred, begins matchmaking Colonel Brandon with Delaford in view.

At tea Brandon arrives already grave; he has heard the marriage confirmed in a Pall Mall stationer's shop from Mrs. Ellison, Miss Grey's guardian, who described the wedding and return to Combe Magna. Elinor confirms they know the whole story and speaks of Willoughby's deceit and Marianne's suffering, noting that Marianne still tries to justify him. Brandon listens without the gaiety Mrs. Jennings expected. Elinor drinks Marianne's prescribed wine herself, thinking its comfort might as well be tried on a disappointed heart. Willoughby's betrayal spreads through London gossip while Brandon's silent concern deepens and Elinor becomes the shield for both sisters against a city that treats heartbreak as entertainment. Marianne can barely leave her room while the engagement circulates through every drawing room, and Elinor hides her own grief.