People: Marianne, Elinor, Willoughby
Text: The next morning, Marianne spent a considerable part of the morning, when she was not weeping, to write a final letter to Willoughby. Though her heart ached at the rejection of the evening before, she required an explanation of his altered behavior. She attempted to eat no breakfast. Elinor then had the task of engaging Mrs. Jennings’ attention away from Marianne and towards herself, trying to help Marianne avoid any unwonted irritation.
Marianne, receiving a letter from the servant, left the breakfast room to read it, leaving Mrs. Jennings’ to pick up the subject of her soon engagement announcement to Willoughby. All of Elinor’s efforts to dissuade her from this subject were in vain. Elinor excused herself to attend to Marianne, also curious as to its contents. She entered their room.
Marianne was stretched on the bed, almost choked by grief, one letter in her hand, and two or three others lying by her. Elinor drew near, but without saying a word; and seating herself on the bed, took her hand, kissed her affectionately several times, and then gave way to a burst of tears, which at first was scarcely less violent than Marianne’s. Elinor turned eagerly to Willoughby’s letter and read:
MY DEAR MADAM,
I have just had the honor of receiving your letter, for which I beg to return my sincere acknowledgements. I am much concerned to find there was anything in my behavior last night which did not meet your approbation; and though I am quite at a loss to discover in what point I could be so unfortunate as to offend you, I entreat your forgiveness. My esteem for your whole family is very sincere; but if I have been so unfortunate as to give rise to a belief of more than I felt, or meant to express, I reproach myself for not having been more guarded in my professions of that esteem. That I should have ever meant more, you will allow to be impossible, when you understand that my affections have long been engaged elsewhere, and it will not be many weeks, I believe, before this engagement is fulfilled. It is with great regret that I obey your commands of returning the letters, with which I have been honored from you, and the lock of hair, which you so obligingly bestowed on me.
I am, dear Madam,
Your most obedient, humble servant,
John Willoughby
Emotion: devastation
Insight: Jeremiah 17:9 knows the depths of the human heart, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
Willoughby’s letter to Marianne was indeed a masterful piece of deception. He asserted that he was completely at a loss as to what he could have done to have offended Marianne at the party the evening before. He further went on to claim, that although he held their family in high regard, that he never felt anything in particular for Marianne. For proof of this, he hinted at his having a previous attachment to a young woman to whom he was soon to be engaged. This cold, lack of emotion or compassion was the epitome of deception. Deceiving himself that he never cared for Marianne and leaving her with that same impression.
Knowing ourselves, knowing the depths of what our hearts are capable of doing, is one method of protecting ourselves from the deceptive hearts of others. God knows how prone to lying the human heart is. We lie to ourselves. We lie to others. And we can expect others to lie to us. May we learn the habit of being honest with ourselves about ourselves and have then discernment to detect trickery in the hearts of others. And let us turn to God for the wisdom to know the truth.
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