Sense and Sensibility IV

Marianne is desperately upset by Willoughby's desertion, but tells Elinor that they were never engaged though they had acted as if they were. Mrs Jennings tries to cheer her up, disliking Willoughby for deserting a girl whom he loved because he was in debt and a richer woman came along. Elinor hopes that staying in London may distract Marianne a little but she is very unhappy. Colonel Brandon visits, and then he tells Elinor that he knows things to Willougby's discredit. He was in love with a cousin, Eliza as a young man. But his father wanted Eliza's fortune and decreed that she should marry his older brother. Colonel Brandon was in the army then and was sent to India. He came home a few years later and found that his love had had an unhappy marriage and his brother had divorced her for adultery. Col Brandon found Eliza living in poverty, with her small child, and he looked after her until she died. He then took on her daughter, also Eliza, and became her guardian. His brother died and he inherited the family estate, so he is now much better off than he used to be. To Elinor's horror, he then reveals that his ward is now 17 and he had been paying for her to live with a lady, who looked after young girls...She had made friends with a girl from school, and went to stay in Bath, where she met Willoughby. He seduced her, in spite of her being a young lady, and got her pregnant. He then left her to fend for herself. Col Brandon found his foster daughter and looked after her, as she was close to her confinement. But her life is ruined, having had an illegitimate child. Elinor does not know what she can say to Marianne to soothe her unhappiness. However Mrs Jennings wants to pay a visit to her daughter Charlotte, so she takes the sisters to Cleveland, her son in law's estate. He and his wife have just had their first baby. However Marianne becomes ill, and her mother is sent for.