Marianne's Illness — Sense and Sensibility

After the Harley Street dinner Elinor is glad Mrs. Ferrars's prejudice can no longer wound her and reads Lucy's vanity in the mother's civility toward the secret fiancée. Lucy visits Berkeley Street to crow that Mrs. Ferrars has taken a fancy to her and predicts easy approval of the marriage. Elinor can barely respond before Edward himself walks in, creating an agonizing triangle. She forces herself to welcome him with composure while Lucy watches narrowly and Edward sits in miserable embarrassment. Elinor volunteers conversation, then leaves to fetch Marianne so the lovers are not alone.

Marianne's joyful greeting and open praise of Edward's delicate conscience, unaware of Lucy, deepen his distress; Lucy stings her about broken engagements. Edward escapes quickly; Marianne complains of Lucy's visits while Elinor, bound to secrecy, cannot correct her sister's mistaken warmth. It is social torture for Elinor: she must host the engaged couple, endure Lucy's triumph, and watch Marianne unknowingly praise the man bound to another woman while maintaining the performance civility demands. Elinor's forced civility under Lucy's scrutiny is the chapter's cruelest test: she must act as hostess to her own rival, protect Edward from being alone with Marianne's uninformed praise, and leave the room so propriety can mask what everyone almost sees.