Her Eyes Opened: Chapter 6
Marianne didn't know if she was looking forward to the evening or if she wanted to run away. Anticipation and panic at the same time was a strange feeling and she could not tell which one was winning. She was going, with her mother and Margaret, to Barton again for some dinner do, and Mrs Jennings had made sure she understood that Colonel Brandon was expected to be there as well. She did want to see him, but what if he was indifferent towards her again, could she bear it?
They hadn't seen him since the wedding and taking into account how happily he had seemed to have been spending time months and months ago, Marianne was very much starting to fear that the man had gone off them. He'd done his duty and more. Been civil to them, looked after them in the manner someone who had become as closely acquainted as he had at the time would be expected to and more, but perhaps he had seen that after seeing his friend (yes, everyone knew Elinor and Colonel conversed at a very special level with each other) married to the man he had seen decent and honourable enough to give his parish to, he had done his bit and it was time to distance himself from the rest of the Dashwoods. The very thought of Christopher Brandon talking to her at accidental meetings at dinners and parties or such like a mere distant acquaintance brought tears to Marianne's eyes. It could not come to that, not if she had anything to do with it!
At Barton Mr and Mrs Palmer had arrived with a guest of theirs: Mr Palmer's young cousin Mr Fitzwilliam. Neither Sir John nor Lady Middleton had been entirely sure who Mr Palmer's relative was, apart from knowing the name and that he was a younger cousin. When the Palmers arrived with their guest, Sir John soon seemed to start breathing a little too heavily and lost a little of his usual healthy outdoorsy colour on his face.
"John, what is the matter?" Lady Middleton asked when they had a moment for a private word. Sir John looked around, making sure there were no extra ears too near him.
"That boy, Fitzwilliam. He's being rather open about touring his relatives to meet new people and perhaps a nice young lady," Sir John hissed. Lady Middleton was not sure what this meant and expressed her question with her eye browse: "And?"
"Can't you see? The Dashwoods are coming, meaning Miss Marianne as well, and I've made sure Brandon could not refuse coming. I was hoping those two could perhaps pick up from where they left off at the wedding!" he almost could not keep his voice down.
"That Fitzwilliam lad is going to monopolize our pretty Miss Marianne the moment she walks in the door and you know how Brandon will be. That man simply will not take part in an open competition for a lady's attentions and he'll walk away. Again. Gods it took me days and days of coaxing him all that time ago that he shouldn't give up on the idea of Miss Marianne simply because Willoughby showed up. Now it's going to be the same all over again!" Sir John fretted.
"But John, wouldn't that require that Miss Marianne would give her attention to Mr Fitzwilliam too?" Lady Middleton asked. She wasn't sure that Marianne would be that light hearted anymore. The girl had been so much more withdrawn of late, almost to the point that she worried Marianne mightn't even attract any attention from young men anymore. That awful brother, Mr Dashwood, had as much as said it quite bluntly: Marianne was a mere shadow of her self and not very pleasing to even look at anymore. Lady Middleton did not agree about the girl's looks, but her outlook on the world had definitely changed.
"You are right, my dear. But I am still worried that the young man will not give her a chance to ignore him." Sir John sighed.
Sir John had arranged a ride for the Dashwoods, who arrived next. If only Brandon had come before them Sir John reckoned he could have prepared the man for the potential competition for Miss Marianne's attention, but that was next to impossible now. No sooner than entering the room and having been introduced, Sir John's fears became reality: young Fitzwilliam spotted a pretty girl about the right age for him and latched on like a barnacle. Certainly, the young man maintained good enough manners to socialize with the whole party, but he also made sure not to be very far from Marianne for very long, ever.
Lady Middleton now shared her husband's worry: that rather dim-witted young man was not leaving any space around the poor girl for anyone else to approach her! At one point she overheard her husband talk in a low voice with Mr Palmer.
"I'm sorry I didn't think of inviting more people, perhaps some other young lady," Sir John had started.
"What's wrong with Miss Marianne? My cousin seems quite taken by her…" Palmer had responded but stopped thinking aloud when he saw the meaningful way in which Sir John was arching his eyebrow.
"Who else are we expecting today?" Palmer asked.
"Mr and Mrs Ferrars are coming, as well as my dear friend Colonel Brandon," Sir John explained quietly.
Palmer nodded several times with a thoughtful look on his face. He hadn't thought of Colonel Brandon. How the man felt about the pretty Dashwood girl was no mystery to him, but since the matter hadn't come to anything in such a long time he had assumed it was over with and Marianne was an eligible young lady for an eligible gentleman to perhaps pursue.
"I'm sorry, my dear fellow, I was unaware that there was something, er… to be considered here…" he struggled to find words.
"I didn't think Miss Marianne was spoken for…" he continued. Sir John tapped Palmer on the shoulder reassuringly.
"You're not entirely wrong there, dear Palmer. She isn't exactly spoken for, but I'm afraid Colonel Brandon is not someone who will ever take these matters lightly and quite frankly it's taken quite an effort to try and encourage him not to give up on the girl. See, her heart does not shift very lightly these days either. She was cut too deep with that Willoughby business. These two do not move quite at the usual pace, is the only way I can describe the situation, and I've tried to bring the two together under my roof as often as possible." Sir John explained. He was hoping Palmer might be able to help him distract young Fitzwilliam away from Marianne when Brandon arrived.
"I see. Well, I suppose we shall have to see what happens when the Colonel arrives, but I'm afraid much is depending on the girl, too." Palmer responded, his voice as low as Sir John's. Palmer liked Brandon. The man wasn't obsessed with idle chatter and making appearances, but by golly when action was needed he would deliver. Brandon was a level-headed sensible and loyal type of a man. He could also understand how Brandon was the type who seemed calm and cool on the surface but whose emotions ran deep. Palmer was not particularly keen on his younger cousin and, in all honesty, the boy had rather been shoved upon him by another cousin. Inviting themselves to Barton had just been a quick thought on their part to come up with some programme and distraction so that they could, perhaps, pass the boy on to some other relative as soon as possible. Palmer realized that should Fitzwilliam in any way do something to make Brandon give up on Miss Marianne, he would feel like he had delivered a low blow and a grave insult to the Colonel himself personally. That would not do.
Sir John kept an eye on the approach to his house from the window. Brandon and the Ferrars should be there any moment and Sir John wanted to make sure the first thing Brandon saw was Fitzwilliam monopolizing Marianne. His plan was quite simple: the moment he got a whiff of Brandon approaching, he'd ask, beg and plea with Marianne that she should entertain the party with a song or two. He did not know her to decline a tenacious request. He remembered well when Brandon had first met the Dashwoods. A nice piece of social engineering on Sir John's part that, even if he said so himself. Too bad that Willoughby had got in the way.
Although, in all honesty, the way the girl was at the time it wasn't probably written in the stars that she'd have paid poor Brandon the right kind of attention anyways. Her head was in clouds then and her romantic notions were somewhat beyond realities of life. Endearing as it all was, it was probably true that even without Willoughby, Colonel Brandon would have been in for a very long ride until the girl would have noticed his true qualities. But Brandon had been sold the moment his eyes landed on the girl that afternoon. Or even sooner, when he heard her! Sir John had no trouble reading the normally so reserved younger man when he stood in the doorway then: seemingly just standing there, looking and listening and not wanting to interrupt, but somehow quite clearly not believing his eyes and ears.
Perhaps Sir John would be able to arrange something of that sort tonight? He was sure he had most people in on his little conspiracy to make those two hurt souls see each other the right way. To have the scales drop from their eyes and admit the inevitable that everyone else was already seeing. He could see Marianne was not impressed with young Fitzwilliam's presence, she was perfectly polite and long suffering when – judging from what Sir John was able to make out of the conversation – the boy was talking about nothing but shooting. Sir John enjoyed a good shoot as much as the next man, but even he knew that was probably not the way to gain the attention of a young lady.
Finally a carriage and a rider on horseback approached the house.
"Miss Marianne," Sir John cut in on Fitzwilliam's monologue, putting on his loopiest persona so as not to appear rude, just a little scattered.
"We haven't heard you pay or sing in such a long time, and I was just saying to Lady Middleton there how lovely it would be if you could grace us with a tune? Would you?"
Marianne looked around at a series of expectant faces. How had this request come upon her so suddenly?
"Oh, yes please, would be so lovely? You have such talent." Lady Middleton joined in and Mrs Jennings nodded her head enthusiastically for she too had spotted the party approaching the house. She had also had time to observe poor Marianne practically squirming in the boy's company and would probably be grateful for the little breather anyways. Palmer saw it was his moment to try and pull Fitzwilliam to one side.
"Yes, that would be so lovely. Now, Fitzwilliam, why don't you come and sit here with us, Miss Marianne is an excellent singer."
Marianne felt she was being a little slow on the up-take: what was going on here? It wasn't unusual that the Middletons would ask her to play, but there was something odd about all of this. When she heard Mr Palmer pull that Mr Fitzwilliam aside, her suspicions were confirmed: Mr Palmer would never do anything like that under normal circumstances. Marianne caught Mrs Jennings's eye and the older woman gave her an encouraging nod with a knowing smile, then giving a fleeting glance at Mr Fitzwilliam being guided to a seat away from the piano forte. Marianne's eyebrow's shot up: they were letting her get away from the increasingly irritating young man!
Even if it came with the price of having to provide the entertainment for a while, Marianne could not help but be grateful for the respite she was offered. If Brandon was not here, nor Elinor and Edward, she would have very little to keep her sane through the afternoon and the evening. Particularly if that Mr Fitzwilliam kept stalking her the entire time. She was uncomfortable with him, to say the least. It wasn't that he seemed dishonest or too forward or anything else directly untoward, but his eagerness to find a young lady to court was so plain and obvious. As if it didn't matter who the young lady was, so long as she wasn't too ugly (Marianne assumed) and would be reasonably willing. The thought of ever even passing polite greetings with the boy gave her the shivers. Her resolve over one fact that she had learned was only made stronger with all this: she needed to see Colonel Brandon and have an honest and open talk with him.