Sense and Sensibility
Lucy Steele
Edward’s secret fiancée
A sweet-talking, shrewd young woman who has a secret claim on Edward Ferrars and uses it to hurt Elinor.
Lucy Steele arrives at Barton Park with her sister Anne, newly come from Exeter. She is clever, neat and pleasing, with an engaging manner. She flatters Lady Middleton’s spoiled children to win a long stay, and she quickly sets her sights on Elinor.
Under the sweetness she is cunning and ambitious. She has little education but is socially shrewd, and she knows exactly what she wants: a secure place in the Ferrars family. She treats Elinor as a confidante specifically to cause her pain. She is quick to read people and quick to say what suits her. Her manners are always agreeable, and she is never so sweet as when she has something to gain. Her speech is full of affectionate phrases, and Elinor must listen to them politely.
“I have been engaged to him these four years, and nobody in the world knows it but his mother and Anne.”
In the story
Contains spoilers.
Lucy walks Elinor out to the shrubbery and tells her that she has been engaged to Edward for four years, showing a miniature and a lock of hair. She makes Elinor promise to keep it quiet. When Anne blurts the secret to Fanny, the Steeles are thrown out of the house.
Mrs. Ferrars disinherits Edward and gives the estate to Robert. Lucy releases Edward and marries Robert instead, without regret. Edward and Elinor are left to be happy because of her ambition.
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