Elinor's Unhappiness

"Did you visit the Earl already?" asked Frederick.

"Yes, of course. Just a short visit. We saw him only last week, after all."
"And how did you find him?"
"Well, of course. Why should he he be otherwise?"

An uneasy silence hung in the room. Across it, Mrs. Davina Farrier, nee Wells, made a face between a grimace and a smirk.
"Well, It is really very kind of you to invite my sister here while we take our little tour, Frederick," said Edward Farrier. "It wasn't neccessary."
"Don't be silly, dear," His new wife called from across the room. "Elinor will enjoy herself immensely in this quaint little house while we are gone. I'm sure you won't mind missing the lakes when you've got all of Cennanceaster to explore..."

She laughed at her little joke.
Sir Arnold didn't seem to find it funny. "We'll be glad of her company, Mrs. Farrier," He assured her firmly.
"She'll be glad of yours as well, I'm sure," she said. "Maybe you'll find a husband for her. You could hardly do her a greater favor. There must be some in this tiny town..."

"Why must you keep speaking of that?" demanded Elinor. "I assure you, it is not on my mind..."

At this moment the approach of the lady of the household was heard. Davina turned away, her wit dampened by Sir Arnold's silent condemnation, which still flowed from his corner of the room.

"Is everything all right, Mrs. Farrier?" Henrietta asked.
"Oh, yes. We were just proposing you find a husband for my sister Elinor while she is here."

"A lovely idea!" agreed Henrietta. "I assure you, Mrs. Farrier, despite you own experiences, it is not unusual to find one's husband in Cennanceaster."

Sir Arnold beamed aproval at his wife from across the room. Henrietta gave him a slight smile and then invited Miss. Farrier upstairs to see where she would stay.
"I apologize for the lack of decoration, Miss Farrier," she said. "I only just put up the drapes. I really was quite lazy about it..."

But Elinor did not look like she was thinking about the curtains. She sat down on the bed and stared at the undecorated walls.

"Are you all right, Miss. Farrier?"
"Elinor, please."
"Elinor, please...?"

"I hate her! She has done nothing but torment me since she appeared in Bath! She is the worst thing that ever happened to me!"

"It must be difficult to have her join your family," agreed Henrietta. She always tried to see the best in people, but it had taken her a remarkably short period of time to find that unsatisfactory in Davina's case. The best of Davina was terrible.
"No!" cried Elinor.

"It isn't just her being the lady of the house after I had been for so long, or the fact that my brother doesn't care a whit about me anymore. It isn't even how cruel she is to me. It's that she's right. I'm thirty-seven, and plain, and I should have put on my cap long ago. I suppose it was simply hard for me to face. But now I never will, not when she's around. I won't give her that satisfaction."

Henrietta wished she could say that she understood, but she found upon examination that even the worst thing that had happened to her, with Frederick behind her, was not nearly so terrible.

At last she said, "No, you musn't give her that satisfaction. You musn't even think of such a thing. Besides, look at her. She is just married, and she is fourty-one."

"But it's her second marriage, and her first was at twenty-two, I think," said Elinor sadly. "And besides, the truth is she doesn't care a whit about my brother."