Sense and Sensibility Chapter XXIV

In which we find Elinor engaged in a delicate and revealing conversation with Miss Steele, whose earnest confession of romantic difficulties and hopeful schemes lays bare the tangled considerations of affection, duty, and social expectation. Meanwhile, the presence of the Miss Steeles at Barton Park grows ever more prolonged, their influence extending amid the preparations and gaieties of the approaching festive season.