Chapter Four #3
By now Mrs. Jennings had taken possession of the letter and looked it over.
“Well, I daresay your half-brother is very civil,” she observed.
“And most obliging! It says here that your cousins, these Bertrams, are to bring some friends of theirs, whom your brother John has never met in the whole course of his life!”
This elicited another huff and eye roll from Marianne. “It is his house, now—I am sure he may do as he likes.”
“Yes,” Mrs. Jennings persisted. “But the material point is this—if John Dashwood is allowing his Bertram relations to bring some guests, he could scarcely object to his own sisters doing the same.”
Willoughby made a ponderous noise, and gave a smile. “Well done, Mrs. Jennings.”
“Yes, yes, Mr. Impudence, how easily you agree when it suits you,” she bantered. “What say you now, Miss Marianne?”
Marianne shrugged her shoulders. “I could perhaps be prevailed upon, if we were permitted the same liberty as our Bertram cousins. If they can bring friends along, why should we not? If you mean to leave Allenham, Willoughby, you might come with us!”
Mrs. Jennings looked down at John’s letter again. “And with such a remarkable number of young people congregating together, another chaperone would not go amiss, I am sure! Well, I had always meant to go to London soon, and Sussex is rather on the way….”
Margaret smiled indulgently at her daughters and then looked back at her Aunt Prudence’s letter.
Her aunt made no mention of the great matter they had discussed in August, but the Bertrams and Rushworths all going to Norland could not be a mere coincidence, and it really would be best if she were present should the truth come out.
She had felt ambiguous about exposing John, when last she had spoken with her aunt, but these last three months of reduced circumstances, and the thinly veiled hostility exhibited by Fanny Dashwood regarding her brother’s affection for Elinor had certainly affected Margaret’s judgement.
If the thing was to be done, better that she be present for it.
“We shall speak more about it tomorrow,” she said. She would at least wish one of her daughters’ futures to be secure first, and it seemed Willoughby was very near a declaration. Surely one must follow soon enough, for he seemed well inclined to travel with them.
7 November—Allenham, Devonshire
John Willoughby bid Lady Allen a warm farewell before setting off for Barton Cottage to begin the journey into Sussex.
Relief washed over him as he left his overbearing relation’s presence, for in Colonel Brandon’s prolonged absence, he feared some exposure in his dealings with Eliza Williams. Lady Allen would be displeased indeed if she caught wind of his dalliance, and she would use it to argue against his attachment to Marianne Dashwood.
It was incredible luck that the invitation to Norland had come in the wake of his distress, for as soon as he had learned that Colonel Brandon had left Delaford on some business regarding his ward, Willoughby had been exceedingly nervous.
It may be an entirely different Eliza Williams, but likely it was the very same, and if she was in the sort of distress he feared, Colonel Brandon would have every cause to be severe upon Willoughby.
Yes, this excuse to leave the country was happily timed indeed.
He thought it most gracious that Mrs. Dashwood had been convinced to include him in their party; she had wanted only another day of persuading before she was quite set on the plan, though Willoughby sensed she would have preferred to present Willoughby to her relations as Marianne’s intended.
There could be no doubt that all the Dashwoods were united in this particular wish, and though Willoughby was just as keen to delight them, he did not yet consider himself free to do so.
Given the precarious nature of his inheritance from Lady Allen, should Brandon indeed call him out, Willoughby felt it best to forbear from angering the old lady, and raising Marianne’s hopes.
Leaving the area was a fine thing, almost a necessity, but he could do no more at present.
He would have to wait it all out and see what transpired in the coming weeks—if his fears proved all for naught, he might proceed as he really wished, but should the worst occur, he must have the freedom to act in accordance with what the situation required.
In the meanwhile, he might enjoy himself a little.
Yes, he would make the most of it; such was his nature.
He might privately fret over whether the colonel’s ward was the same Miss Williams he had briefly known over the summer, while at the same time enjoying the company of the most superior woman of his acquaintance.
He fully intended to continue making love to her, and nothing short of Lady Allen disinheriting him could forestall his intentions toward Marianne Dashwood.
Outwardly, he intended to show John and Fanny Dashwood, who really ought to be publicly set down, just how well Marianne deserved to be treasured, and her mother and sisters as well.
Inwardly, however, he would be plagued with uncertainty for quite some time.