People: Elinor, Lucy Steele
Text: Elinor’s curiosity in meeting Mrs. Ferrars had been satisfied. She was firmly convinced that she should never have been easily connected to Edward in marriage with such a mother-in-law to stand in the way. The visit had granted her a certain level of closure. But Lucy Steele was not as insightful as Elinor. She saw both Mrs. Ferrars and her daughter, Fanny Dashwood, as showing her excessive favor. She foolishly assumed that they liked her for herself. Elinor saw the truth: they merely liked Lucy because she was not Elinor nor a threat to Edward’s future.
Lucy stopped to visit and was glad to find Elinor alone. She expressed her lack of understanding and insight.
“My dear friend,” cried Lucy as soon as they were by themselves, “I come to talk to you of my happiness. Could anything be so flattering as Mrs. Ferrars’ way of treating me yesterday? So exceeding affable she was! She took quite a fancy to me. Now was it not so? You saw it all; and was not you quite struck with it?”
“She certainly was very civil to you.”
“Civil!” cried Lucy. “Did you see nothing but only civility? I saw a vast deal more. Such kindness as fell to the share of nobody but me! No pride, no hauteur, and your sister just the same. All sweetness and affability!”
Elinor wished to talk of something else, but Lucy still pressed her to own that she had reason for her happiness; and Elinor was obliged to go on. “Undoubtedly, if they had known your engagement, nothing could be more flattering than their treatment of you; but as that was not the case…”
“I guessed you would say so,” replied Lucy quickly, “But there was no reason in the world why Mrs. Ferrars should seem to like me, if she did not, and her liking me is everything. You shan’t talk me out of my satisfaction. Mrs. Ferrars is a charming woman, and so is your sister-in-law. They are both delightful women indeed! I wonder I should never hear you say how agreeable Mrs. Dashwood was!”
To this Elinor had no answer to make and did not attempt any.
Emotion: duplicity
Insight: Proverbs 13:16 reveals these two women, “In everything the prudent acts with knowledge, but a fool flaunts his folly.”
Elinor knew for sure what Lucy Steele refused to admit. Elinor knew that the only reason that Mrs. Ferrars and Fanny Dashwood had showed favor to Lucy was simply because she was not Elinor. Lucy had nothing in her character or style or intelligence that would make her particularly attractive to this proud mother and daughter team. Elinor was prudent enough to judge the situation with full knowledge that if the two women had known of Lucy’s secret engagement that they would have shunned her as well. Lucy simply refused to admit this.
May we always lean towards Elinor and away from Lucy. Lucy was foolish enough to actually flaunt her folly in Elinor’s presence. She was foolish to believe that she had actually truly impressed this mother and daughter. But Elinor was wise. She saw things as they really were. Let us be like Elinor and use wisdom and knowledge to guide our understanding of people and motives.
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