Indifference in
Sense and Sensibility
323
reticence makes him liable to the charge of being indifferent to
social courtesy, a criticism that Willoughby does not hesitate to
voice: “[Brandon] was afraid of catching cold I dare say, and
invented this trick for getting out of it” (Austen, 2006: 76).
Significantly, Willoughby’s opinion is expressed “in a low
voice to Marianne” (76). Common courtesy forbids him to
criticize Brandon in public, but he communicates what he
really feels at heart to Marianne. Willoughby’s whispering
offers an early clue that he does not do everything above board
and that the voice of his heart is not always honorable.
Moreover, Brandon’s behavior sets in motion Mrs. Jennings’s
inquisitive imagination. Envisioning alternately that Brandon
“must have been sent for about money matters,” about his
illegitimate daughter and about his sick sister, Mrs. Jennings
“wishes him out of all his trouble with all [her] heart” (82-83).
Here we see early evidence of Mrs. Jennings’s sympathetic
heart, one that deserves commendation despite its owner’s
vulgar manners. Obliging him to be reserved and encouraging
him to brave criticism, Brandon’s hitherto-undivulged secret
also reveals Willoughby’s and Mrs. Jenning’s “deep feeling.”
The revelatory power of Brandon’s secrets becomes more
apparent when it is Elinor who shows some interest in them.
Brandon quietly admires Marianne when her romantic
relationship with Willoughby attracts public raillery. Elinor’s
thought casts Brandon’s situation in a sympathetic light:
She saw it with concern; for what could a silent man
of five and thirty hope, when opposed by a very lively
one of five and twenty? And as she could not even
wish him successful, she heartily wished him
indifferent. She liked him
—
in spite of his gravity and
reserve, . . . his reserve appeared rather the result of
some oppression of sprits, than of any natural
gloominess of temper. Sir John had dropt hints of
his . . . being an unfortunate man, and she regarded
him with respect and compassion. (Austen, 2006: 59)