Originally Posted by
Ecurb
By the way, for those who may have missed the indelible portrait of Nancy Steele in S & S (i.e. most readers not obsessed with Austen novels), Miss Steele "was nearly thirty, with a plain and not a sensible face."
Of her journey to London she declares, "We came post all the way, and had a very smart beau to attend us...." The "smart beau" was none other than Dr. Davies, about whom Nancy says, "Everybody laughs at me about the doctor, and I cannot think why. My cousins say they are sure I have made a conquest; but for my part, I declare I never think about him from one hour's end to another...."
Marianne is too heartbroken to tease Nancy, but why does Elinor refrain?
The quotation above, what is more, is not the only occasion on which Elinor fails to supply the required badinage. When they meet in Kensington Gardens, Nancy is wearing a new hat, and is forced to say, "There now, you are going to laugh at me too. But why should I not wear pink ribbons? I do not care if it is the doctor's favourite colour. I am sure, for my part, I should never have known he did like it better than any other colour if he had not happened to say so. My cousins have been so plaguing me."
Thank goodness for the cousins, for we are told, "Elinor had nothing to say." A little later, Nancy claims that her cousins might advise her to write the doctor (the "doctor" was doubtless a clergyman, not a physician) to get Edward a curacy. Nancy was prepared to answer: "La! I shall say directly. I write the Doctor indeed!"
Elinor coldly replied, "It is a comfort to be prepared for the worst. You have got your answer ready."
The Doctor (I might add) is another of my favorite Austen characters. He never actually appears, but I am prepared to imagine him a staid, middle-aged clergyman who was kind to the Steele sisters on their post ride, but never gave Nancy the slightest thought since.