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CHAPTER XXIX . Before the housemaid had lit their fire the next day , or the sun gained any power over a cold , gloomy morning in January , Marianne , only half dressed , was kneeling against one of the window - seats for the sake of all the little light she could command from it , and writing as fast as a continual flow of tears would permit her . In this situation , Elinor , roused from sleep by her agitation and sobs , first perceived her ; and after observing her for a few moments with silent anxiety , said , in a tone of the most considerate gentleness , “ Marianne , may I ask — ? ” “ No , Elinor , ” she replied , “ ask nothing ; you will soon know all . ” The sort of desperate calmness with which this was said , lasted no longer than while she spoke , and was immediately followed by a return of the same excessive affliction . It was some minutes before she could go on with her letter , and the frequent bursts of grief which still obliged her , at intervals , to withhold her pen , were proofs enough of her feeling how more than probable it was that she was writing for the last time to Willoughby . Elinor paid her every quiet and unobtrusive attention in her power ; and she would have tried to sooth and tranquilize her still more , had not Marianne entreated her , with all the eagerness of the most nervous irritability , not to speak to her for the world . In such circumstances , it was better for both that they should not be long together ; and the restless state of Marianne’s mind not only prevented her from remaining in the room a moment after she was dressed , but requiring at once solitude and continual change of place , made her wander about the house till breakfast time , avoiding the sight of every body . At breakfast she neither ate , nor attempted to eat any thing ; and Elinor’s attention was then all employed , not in urging her , not in pitying her , nor in appearing to regard her , but in endeavouring to engage Mrs . Jennings’s notice entirely to herself . As this was a favourite meal with Mrs . Jennings , it lasted a considerable time , and they were just setting themselves , after it , round the common working table , when a letter was delivered to Marianne , which she eagerly caught from the servant , and , turning of a death - like paleness , instantly ran out of the room . Elinor , who saw as plainly by this , as if she had seen the direction , that it must come from Willoughby , felt immediately such a sickness at heart as made her hardly able to hold up her head , and sat in such a general tremour as made her fear it impossible to escape Mrs . Jennings’s notice . That good lady , however , saw only that Marianne had received a letter from Willoughby , which appeared to her a very good joke , and which she treated accordingly , by hoping , with a laugh , that she would find it to her liking . Of Elinor’s distress , she was too busily employed in measuring lengths of worsted for her rug , to see any thing at all ; and calmly continuing her talk , as soon as Marianne disappeared , she said , “ Upon my word , I never saw a young woman so desperately in love in my life ! My girls were nothing to her , and yet they used to be foolish enough ; but as for Miss Marianne , she is quite an altered creature . I hope , from the bottom of my heart , he won’t keep her waiting much longer , for it is quite grievous to see her look so ill and forlorn . Pray , when are they to be married ? ”
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