Sense & Sensibility, chapter 39: Living On A Prayer

When you gotta go, you gotta go. 

Elinor and MA know that their time in London is up, which honestly began a couple chapters ago when le scandale broke out. Even Mrs. J senses this, because she suggest the Dashwood sisters leave at the end of March … with, um, the Palmers. To Somersetshire. But MA is itching to leave and Mr. Palmer unsticks his head from out of his b—I mean, he quite graciously invites them to their house. So an exit plan have been hatched long before we get into the meat of this chapter.

At first MA expresses great “agitation” at this plan, as it would bring them close to Willoughby’s estate (by a whole 30 MILES). But Elinor convinces her that going with the Palmers is the quickest way to return to Barton Cottage, and MA calms down. Gee, I wonder how long that will last …

But first, a small miracle occurs. Col. Brandon visits Berkeley Street and engages Elinor in  private conversation. Mrs. J, “too honorable to listen,” nonetheless notices Elinor’s reactions to what the colonel has to tell her. Much like John Dashwood, the idea of Brandon preferring Elinor over MA has at last caught her, especially since Brandon has not made a play for the decidedly single younger Dashwood sister. Do you have whiplash? Because I sure do. Funny how this do-se-do of perspective partners is alive in characters’ imaginations but never actually plays out. This reminds me of Edmund Bertram’s unsubstantiated claim that men will flirt with the female friend/relative of the women they actually like. I don’t think that worked out very well for his sisters … or for Henry Crawford, come to think of it.

Anyway, Col. Brandon is actually here to offer the Delaford living to Edward. Word of Edward’s trials, love- and family- alike, has reached him, and he is inclined to provide justice as he sees fit. Elinor’s “esteem for the general benevolence, and her gratitude for the particular friendship, which together prompted Colonel Brandon to this act, [are] strongly felt, and warmly expressed,” even though there are “minor feelings less pure, less pleasing” which “have a share in that emotion.” Of course, Brandon is operating under the assumption that Lucy and Edward have been “long attached to each other” because of their love for one another, but his heart is in the right place, and a living’s a living. Otherwise, Brandon is quite perceptive about the situation—“Mrs. Ferrars does not know what she may be doing,” he warns. And though he hasn’t formally met Edward, Brandon describes him as “not a young man with whom one can be intimately acquainted in a short time” but “as a friend of yours I wish [Edward well] still more.”

Hey, look—I found a way for someone to recommend himself to a stranger! Just be a nice person who treats a family of females well!

This literal reversal of fortune makes it almost certain that Edward and Lucy will be able to marry much sooner than later—hence Elinor’s “less pure, less pleasing” emotions. Col. Brandon is quick to point out, however, that the “200 pounds per annum” income would guarantee that the marriage would have to be put off for some time. (Shapard suggests that a rector would be able to “raise tithes” in order to garner more money over time). That’s approximately £17,000 in 2022  and $20,500 for us Yanks. As an American struggling to find full-time work, I know that $20,000 a year is not ideal—definitely not for two people (quick reminder that I have a donate button). Even so, Brandon’s offer is rather out of the ordinary and so, so much more better than nothing. Best of all, it proves Mrs. Ferrars’s earlier threat to be complete bullshirt: there’s no way she can impede a landowning gentleman from offering her estranged son a living, or her son from taking it. *sticks tongue out at a fictional character*

But how to break the news? Col. Brandon suggests, “on motives of equal delicacy” as Elinor’s, that she be the one who makes the offer to Edward. Much as she is “unwilling to give Edward the pain of receiving an obligation from her,” she goes along with this idea. Considering that almost no one—even those she loves and continuously assists—feels obligated to Elinor, this is an interesting if not surprising reaction from Elinor.

Then, as Col. Brandon leaves, Elinor expresses her gratitude and Mrs. J misreads the whole situation as a subdued proposal of marriage. Busybodies be … busybodying.

Join me next time as a comic misunderstanding fizzles out before it can do any damage and Elinor unknowingly creates a more somber misunderstanding when she talks to Edward.