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If in the supposition of his seeking to reat, how reater were they now likely to be, when the object of his engagement was undoubtedly inferior in connections, and probably inferior in fortune to herself These difficulties, indeed, with a heart so alienated froht not press very hard upon his patience; but melancholy was the state of the person by whom the expectation of family opposition and unkindness, could be felt as a relief!
As these considerations occurred to her in painful succession, she wept for him,done nothing to merit her present unhappiness, and consoled by the belief that Edward had done nothing to forfeit her esteeht she could even now, under the first suard every suspicion of the truth from her mother and sisters And so as she able to answer her own expectations, that when she joined them at dinner only two hours after she had first suffered the extinction of all her dearest hopes, no one would have supposed fro in secret over obstacles which must divide her for ever from the object of her love, and that Marianne was internally dwelling on the perfections of a hly possessed, and whoe which drove near their house
The necessity of concealing from her mother and Marianne, what had been entrusted in confidence to herself, though it obliged her to unceasing exertion, was no aggravation of Elinor's distress On the contrary it was a relief to her, to be spared the coive such affliction to the that condemnation of Edward, which would probably flow from the excess of their partial affection for herself, and which was more than she felt equal to support
From their counsel, or their conversation, she knew she could receive no assistance, their tenderness and sorrow must add to her distress, while her self-coeer alone, and her own good sense so well supported her, that her firmness was as unshaken, her appearance of cheerfulness as invariable, as with regrets so poignant and so fresh, it was possible for them to be
Much as she had suffered from her first conversation with Lucy on the subject, she soon felt an earnest wish of renewing it; and this for more reasons than one She wanted to hear ain, she wanted more clearly to understand what Lucy really felt for Edward, whether there were any sincerity in her declaration of tender regard for him, and she particularly wanted to convince Lucy, by her readiness to enter on theon it, that she was no otherwise interested in it than as a friend, which she verydiscourse, must have left at least doubtful That Lucy was disposed to be jealous of her appeared very probable: it was plain that Edward had always spoken highly in her praise, notto trust her on so short a personal acquaintance, with a secret so confessedly and evidently ience ht But indeed, while Elinor re really beloved by Edward, it required no other consideration of probabilities to make it natural that Lucy should be jealous; and that she was so, her very confidence was a proof What other reason for the disclosure of the affair could there be, but that Elinor ht be inforht to avoid him in future?