Marianne Dashwood has hurried away to grieve her broken heart in privacy, when Colonel Brandon comes to call. Mrs. Jenkins is out, and the Colonel comes in to speak with her sister Elinor. After a while, Marianne decides to join her sister, for she really should not be alone with the Colonel, old and uninteresting he may be, it would not do for Elinor to be seen alone with him.
As she silently approaches the parlor where they are, she can hear them speak through the partially open door. For a moment, she stops to listen.
"We returned unwounded, and the meeting, therefore, never got abroad," the Colonel said.
Elinor sighed, while the implications of the statement whirled in Marianne's mind. Unwounded? Had he been fighting? Or worse, had he… ? Had there been.. ?
"Such," said Colonel Brandon, after a pause, "has been the unhappy resemblance between the fate of mother and daughter!"
Marianne gasped and missed what the Colonel said next. She then heard her sister speak again.
"Is she still in town?"
"No; as soon as she recovered from her lying-in, for I found her near her delivery, I removed her and her child into the country, and there she remains."
Shocked beyond words, Marianne withdrew.
For the Colonel to be such a scoundrel, who would have thought it? She could scarce believe it, but she had heard him speak those words. He had been challenged to a duel, returned unwounded, and hidden a girl and child in the country. Those were the salient facts. What else had he said? She couldn't remember. And for such a man to be left alone with Elinor, proper, staid, dependable Elinor! And for him to disclose such ugly truths to her honest, respectable sister! What could he mean by it? To Marianne's mind, a man would only ever confess such depravity to a virtuous maiden if he were trying to convince her he was a better man now, good enough in fact, to persuade said maiden to join his home and his life and establish a certain respectability to his name, which was at present wholly lacking.
"Have I been so wholly preoccupied by my own worries, my own heartsore, to miss entirely that such a scoundrel was wooing my sister?" she cried.
"Well no more! I shall attend her most assiduously from now on."
In Marianne's mind, the Colonel, who had heretofore been just a boring, old and uninteresting acquaintance, now took the shape of the darkest of villains. In thwarting his supposed goal, in vanquishing his perceived deviousness, she might also exorcise the very devil who had inhabited her soul until today. Of this hidden motive to rid herself of the power of dark-hearted men, she was perfectly unaware. The necessity of protecting a most beloved sister, roused in her all feelings of righteousness and justice, thus allowing her to proceed with an air of moral superiority. Elinor would thank her one day.
Still in a state of great agitation, Marianne took some time to recollect her thoughts. She finally distilled one goal out of all her agitated recollections. Elinor must be separated from such a dreadful man forthwith! She would protect her sister, like no one had been able to protect her. For a certainty, Elinor must feel a man's betrayal deeply, Marianne supposed. He must not be allowed close to her ever again.
In a frenzy, Marianne started writing letters to all her acquaintance, pronouncing Elinor very nearly engaged to the very worst of men, and demanding everybody to unite in denouncing this man and saving her elder sister from his depredations.
That night, she spoke to Mrs. Jennings, who laughed in her face.
"To think an honourable man capable of such misdeeds," said she. "My dear Miss Marianne, you must stop this nonsense at once. A man such as the Colonel would be a very good, an excellent match for any Miss Dashwood and it would do me good to see any of you so comfortably settled. But you cannot malign such a man, my dear. Have you taken leave of your senses?"
It may be believed that Miss Marianne's furious campaign did not go undetected. Indeed, rumours started swirling wherever Miss Marianne went, and her elder sister soon found herself to be the subject of much gossip and speculation, none of it friendly.
It wasn't until on one day, Miss Dashwood received both a rather distressed letter from her mother, and an equally distressing visit from the Misses Steele, that she perceived the full scale of rumour that was abound.
""You will think my question an odd one, I dare say," said Lucy to her one day, as they were walking together from the park - "but pray, are you personally acquainted with all the tales of your betrothed's paramour?"
"I beg your pardon!" gasped Elinor. "I am not engaged!"
"You need not be secretive with me, My dear Miss Dashwood," Miss Lucy Steele said. "I have trusted you with the details of my engagement. I am hurt that you would not have confided in me. And the tale of your unhappy connection to Colonel Brandon is all over town! To be married to such a man! I am sure I would die for the shame of it."
Elinor could not help gasping out loud. "Excuse me," said she; "and be assured that I meant no offence to you, by not speaking, even in so quiet a way, of my own feelings. I assure you, there is nothing to say. The Colonel and I are not engaged, nor have I any reason to think he would offer for me. How did you come to make such a speculation?"
"Speculation!" cried Miss Steele. "Speculation indeed! I have it from many an acquaintance, that you were alone in a parlor, exchanging confidences. That you were settling the details of your future lives together, and that all that is currently wanting is your mother's and brother's approval of the match. Then you will be tied forever to an unscrupulous man, who has placed his mistress and his natural child somewhere close to your future home, away from prying eyes. How you can live with the indignity, I cannot understand. I believe his estate is a prosperous one though, which must be your justification. I wish you all the best in your marriage, Miss Dashwood. At least you may say you already know the worst of your future spouse's character."
Miss Lucy and Miss Anne Steele tittered, while Elinor blushed brightly, terribly unsettled both by the unfairness of the rumours, ascribing to an honourable man the most deprived of motives, and the fact that a man, wholly in love with another, should be rumoured to be attached to her instead.
When, once returned to Berkeley Street, she sat down to read her mother's letter, she was astonished beyond words. To think that Marianne, Marianne of all people, should be the one to be spreading such malicious gossip. It was unfathomable. This, however, could not be allowed to continue. Elinor went to confront her sister, who was apparently not only pining for Willoughby, but spreading unsubstantiated gossip of the worst kind instead.
"Marianne," she said as she entered their room. "What are you doing? Have you taken leave of your senses? The Colonel is an honourable man and you have done him, and me, a great injustice by the rumours you spread."
"Honourable man?" called Marianne. "How can you, sensible, honest Elinor, defend that man? Can you not see that by this association, by his reckless flaunting of his unsavoury habits, by bringing a man with a kept woman and a natural child, in fact more than one, so Mrs. Jennings told me, into our lives, our very respectability must suffer? For you to be so imprudent, and all for a man who could never love you to begin with. How could you?"
"You have it all wrong," Elinor replied. "How you can believe the Colonel capable of what you accuse him of, I cannot understand. And to think, he came here to share the details of Willoughby's past, to save you from heartache! And this is how you repay him? But worse, much worse, is the betrayal on my account. Do you not realize that my reputation is in tatters, because of your uninhibited gossip?""
"If that means he will leave you alone, it will be worth it," Marianne sniffed. "To think that he came here to besmirch Willoughby's honour. Such a man could never deserve you and I will loath him all of my life. I shall tell him too, to his face, so he will break his engagement to you and disappear from our lives."
"You may do so now, or be a proper young lady and hold your peace ," Mrs. Jennings voice sounded from the doorway.
"Colonel Brandon is here, and asking for you, Miss Dashwood," she addressed Elinor.
Elinor flushed and left the room.
"You had best stay here, Miss Marianne," Mrs. Jennings said before closing the door.
Elinor entered the parlor where Colonel Brandon was waiting. He looked more than usually grave, and though expressing satisfaction at finding Miss Dashwood alone, as if he had somewhat in particular to tell her, sat for some time without saying a word. Elinor, persuaded that he had some communication to make, impatiently expected its opening.
"Miss Dashwood," he said at last, "I have been made aware of rumours, of gossip, connecting your good name to my own."
Elinor could but nod, fully aware of both the scale and the source of the rumours.
"I cannot but apologise," Colonel Brandon continued, "for being the source of such gossip, for being the cause of your reputation to be savaged in town, along with my own."
"Colonel," breathed Elinor, "Rest assured. None of this is your fault."
"Yes it is!" Marianne suddenly cried, while entering the room. "It is entirely his fault!"
Turning to Colonel Brandon, she continued her tirade: "Why could you not leave my sister alone? Why did you have to drag her into your sordid affairs? I know it all! You, who have preyed upon my sister's goodwill and calmness of temper! You offer her naught but the disrepute of having an unfaithful spouse! And Elinor tells me you tried to blame the whole of your affairs on Willoughby! He is a good man when compared to you! You, you are old, decrepit, unable to feel love, to feel anything! You do not deserve my sister and I will never let you forget it."
Elinor, who feared this unfair attack by the woman he admired, may crumple the Colonel, was to be surprised. For instead of hurt, his countenance betrayed clarity and resolve.
"And this is the estimation in which you hold me," he spoke calmly, yet menacingly. "I see it all very clearly now. How mistaken I was about your own character madam, and how laudable is your sister's. Thank heavens my heart was saved another break. I shall be content, nay, I shall find happiness knowing what I do now."
Deliberately, he turned away from Miss Marianne, towards her elder sister.
"Miss Dashwood," he said. "I have admired your sense, the strength of your character, your calmness amidst the chaos that surrounds you. I have trusted you with my past as I have none other. I have unintentionally been the source of harming your reputation, which grieves me beyond words. I wish to make reparations to you, but I also must speak of my heart. I esteem you greatly. I believe you and I may make a good match in years to come. Miss Elinor Dashwood, I unreservedly offer you my heart, my soul, my honour and my name. Will you marry me?"
Time seemed to slow in Elinor's estimation. She could see Marianne open her mouth and scream something, although she did not hear her. She observed Colonel Brandon, standing before her, not grave and worried, as she had seen him many times before, but hopeful, with a slight smile. She thought of Edward, a man she had esteemed and who had never been truthful to her even from the first of their acquaintance. Here before her was a man who had laid open his darker deeds, explained his own perceived shortcomings and who honourably and openly requested her hand. Without a doubt, Elinor knew she would never be this man's little secret, he would never deny her or treat her dishonestly. Now that she could be certain he would not be hurt by or pining for her younger sister, she felt she could allow her heart to open to him. Colonel Brandon had the strength and character to stand beside her on their journey through life. It was enough. They would build on that foundation, she was sure.
"Yes, Colonel Brandon, I will marry you," Elinor replied.
Time sped up to its usual pace again, and Marianne's screams of "No! I shall not allow it!" were suddenly heard, but Mrs. Jennings grabbed Marianne's arm and tugged her away, leaving the newly affianced couple alone.