Marianne Reformed — Sense and Sensibility

After two months in London Marianne longs for Barton, and Elinor plans their return until the Palmers invite Mrs. Jennings and the sisters to Cleveland for Easter. Marianne recoils at entering Somersetshire near Willoughby's country, but Elinor persuades her that the stop shortens the journey home. Mrs. Jennings laments their departure while Colonel Brandon asks Elinor at the window whether Edward has truly been cast off for keeping his engagement. Learning it is so, he commissions her to offer Edward the vacant living of Delaford, a small rectory worth about two hundred a year. Elinor is astonished that she should be the messenger of such relief, thanks him warmly, and agrees to inform Edward at his Pall Mall lodgings.

Brandon notes the living can comfort a bachelor but hardly sustain a wife, so marriage must remain distant. Mrs. Jennings, overhearing fragments, imagines a proposal to Elinor herself. Colonel Brandon's quiet generosity turns toward Edward's practical future while the sisters prepare to move toward Cleveland and the crisis waiting there. Brandon's offer transforms Edward from disinherited dependent into a man with a parish and purpose, though Elinor knows two hundred a year cannot yet support a wife. Mrs. Jennings's comic mishearing of the window conversation keeps the household laughing while Elinor carries relief and renewed sorrow in equal measure toward Cleveland.