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When the dessert and the wine were arranged , and Mrs . Dashwood and Elinor were left by themselves , they remained long together in a similarity of thoughtfulness and silence . Mrs . Dashwood feared to hazard any remark , and ventured not to offer consolation . She now found that she had erred in relying on Elinor’s representation of herself ; and justly concluded that every thing had been expressly softened at the time , to spare her from an increase of unhappiness , suffering as she then had suffered for Marianne . She found that she had been misled by the careful , the considerate attention of her daughter , to think the attachment , which once she had so well understood , much slighter in reality , than she had been wont to believe , or than it was now proved to be . She feared that under this persuasion she had been unjust , inattentive , nay , almost unkind , to her Elinor ; — that Marianne’s affliction , because more acknowledged , more immediately before her , had too much engrossed her tenderness , and led her away to forget that in Elinor she might have a daughter suffering almost as much , certainly with less self - provocation , and greater fortitude . CHAPTER XLVIII . Elinor now found the difference between the expectation of an unpleasant event , however certain the mind may be told to consider it , and certainty itself . She now found , that in spite of herself , she had always admitted a hope , while Edward remained single , that something would occur to prevent his marrying Lucy ; that some resolution of his own , some mediation of friends , or some more eligible opportunity of establishment for the lady , would arise to assist the happiness of all . But he was now married ; and she condemned her heart for the lurking flattery , which so much heightened the pain of the intelligence . That he should be married soon , before ( as she imagined ) he could be in orders , and consequently before he could be in possession of the living , surprised her a little at first . But she soon saw how likely it was that Lucy , in her self - provident care , in her haste to secure him , should overlook every thing but the risk of delay . They were married , married in town , and now hastening down to her uncle’s . What had Edward felt on being within four miles from Barton , on seeing her mother’s servant , on hearing Lucy’s message ! They would soon , she supposed , be settled at Delaford . — Delaford , — that place in which so much conspired to give her an interest ; which she wished to be acquainted with , and yet desired to avoid . She saw them in an instant in their parsonage - house ; saw in Lucy , the active , contriving manager , uniting at once a desire of smart appearance with the utmost frugality , and ashamed to be suspected of half her economical practices ; — pursuing her own interest in every thought , courting the favour of Colonel Brandon , of Mrs . Jennings , and of every wealthy friend . In Edward — she knew not what she saw , nor what she wished to see ; — happy or unhappy , — nothing pleased her ; she turned away her head from every sketch of him .
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