It was a very awkward moment; and the countenance of each shewed that it was so. They all looked exceedingly foolish; and Edward seemed to have as great an inclination to walk out of the room again, as to advance farther into it. They very circumstance, in its unpleasantest form, which they would each have been most anxious to avoid, had fallen on them. -- They were not only all three together, but were together without the relief of any other person. The ladies recovered themselves first. It was not Lucy's business to put herself forward, and the appearance of secrecy must still be kept up. She could therefore only look her tenderness, and after slightly addressing him, said no more.
But Elinor had more to do; and so anxious was she, for his sake and her own, to do it well, that she forced herself, after a moment's recollection, to welcome him, with a look and manner that were almost easy, and almost open; and another struggle another effort still improved them. She would not allow the presence of Lucy, nor the consciousness of some injustice towards herself, to deter her from saying that she was happy to see him, and that she had very much regretted being from home, when he called before in Berkeley Street. She would not be frightened from paying him those attentions which, as a friend and almost a relation, were his due.
~ Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen
In A Jane Austen Devotional, author Steffany Woolsey's devotional "Behaving with Dignity" writes,
"The behavior of the Proverbs 31 woman aligns closely with Elinor's conduct:
'She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come'
(v. 25 NIV, emphasis added). A woman who trusts the Lord for the
outcome can laugh freely because she knows that the future is in His
hands. No matter what happens, God can be trusted."
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