Sense and Sensibility, Volume the Second, Chapters Twelve and Thirteen

In which there are awkward gatherings, first involving Mrs. Ferrars who snubs Elinor and favors Lucy, not knowing the latter's engagement to her son, and then involving Lucy, Elinor, and Edward, with Marianne obliviousing all over it.



Oh, these two chapters are just so wonderfully awkward. I had the Three's Company theme stuck in my head as soon as Edward entered AND NOW YOU WILL TOO.

7:10 - Mrs. Ferrars.

One minor note: the screens mentioned at 11:15 that Elinor painted and that are so casually dismissed by Mrs. Ferrars being a mean old biddy are fire screens, intended to be placed between a person and the fireplace to protect them from uncomfortable direct heat, though not to prevent their wax makeup from melting, which is apparently a myth some people believe. I love it how sometimes when researching these things I learn the debunkings before I learn what the myths are in the first place.

26:36 - Drawing him a little aside.

Oh, Edward. You're such a putz.


If you would like to read along, the text can be found at Project Gutenberg, and high-res copies of the Thompson illustrations can be found in the British Library's Flickr stream. No reading ahead, though!