--"Or will it be wrong?--I can talk
of it now, I hope, as I ought to do."--
Elinor tenderly invited her to be open.
"As for regret," said Marianne, "I have done with that,
as far as HE is concerned. I do not mean to talk to you
of what my feelings have been for him, but what they
are NOW.--At present, if I could be satisfied on one point,
if I could be allowed to think that he was not ALWAYS
acting a part, not ALWAYS deceiving me;--but above all,
if I could be assured that he never was so VERY wicked
as my fears have sometimes fancied him, since the story
of that unfortunate girl"--
She stopt. Elinor joyfully treasured her words
as she answered,
"If you could be assured of that, you think you
should be easy."
"Yes. My peace of mind is doubly involved in it;--
for not only is it horrible to suspect a person, who has
been what HE has been to ME, of such designs,--but what must
it make me appear to myself?--What in a situation like mine,
but a most shamefully unguarded affection could expose
me to"--
"How then," asked her sister, "would you account
for his behaviour?"
"I would suppose him,--Oh, how gladly would I suppose him,
only fickle, very, very fickle.
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