chunk: Lucy is invited to stay with John and Fanny, as a way for Fanny to avoid inviting the Dashwood sisters to visit them. Lucy, falsely believing that she has a friend in Fanny, confides her clandestine engagement to Edward and is thrown out of the house. Edward's mother demands that he break off the engagement. When he refuses, she arranges to have his fortune transferred to his younger brother, Robert (Richard Lumsden). On hearing this, Colonel Brandon offers Edward the living of the parish on his estate, feeling sympathy for the honorable Edward. He also explains to Elinor why Willoughby left Marianne: he had impregnated Brandon's ward Beth, the illegitimate daughter of his former love Eliza. Willoughby's aunt Lady Allen disinherited him upon the discovery, forcing him to find a wealthy woman to marry. Unfortunately, it all occurred the day that he was set to propose to Marianne. Elinor hopes that knowing he truly loved her is enough to make her sister feel better about losing the man