A blockhead and a rascal

Sorry I disappeared for a while. I have been working on these quilts every chance I get, and I got behind in my reading. Are you both done? I have 7 pages left. I was falling asleep last night and despite wanting to finish, I couldn't.

Now. This whole thing with Willoughby is very interesting. It adds more to the story for sure. However, all his confession to Elinor did not redeem him even a little in my eyes. He is horrible and I don't agree with the Dashwood family that he has justified his actions in the smallest degree.

"Marianne said not a word. She trembled, her eyes were fixed on the ground, and her lips became whiter than even sickness had left them. A thousand enquiries sprung up from her heart, but she dared not urge one. She caught every syllable with panting eagerness; her hand, unknowingly to herself, closely pressed her sister's, and tears covered her cheeks." This description of Marianne is so sad to me. Her character has changed and matured, showing restraint. I can't decide if I like it, or feel saddened, that she has learned to keep her emotions from bubbling over.

I was disappointed that there were no details of the proposal of Edward to Elinor. The whole description of his arrival and the conversation that took place built up so much emotion and suspense in me (even though I know what ultimately happens) that it was a let down to have it summed up in a few sentences that they were suddenly engaged. I think of the exchange at the end of Emma when he proposes and calls her "my darling friend". We've come on this journey with these characters, and then we're kept out of the conversation. But I do love the description "...when they all sat down at four o'clock, about three hours after his arrival, he had secured his lady, engaged her mother's consent, and was not only in the rapturous profession of the lover, but in the reality of reason and truth, one of the happiest of men."

Rachel