seven o'clock
-- perhaps scarcely less an object of pity ! Oh ! how slow was the progress of time which yet kept them in ignorance ! At seven o'clock , leaving Marianne still sweetly asleep , she joined Mrs. Jennings in the drawing-room to tea . Of breakfast she had been kept by her fears , and of dinner by their sudden reverse , from eating much ; and the present refreshment , therefore , with such feelings of content as she brought to it , was particularly welcome . Mrs. Jennings would have persuaded her , at its conclusion , to take some rest before her mother 's arrival , and allow _ her _ to take her place by Marianne ; but Elinor had no sense of fatigue , no capability of sleep at that moment about her , and she was not to be kept away from her sister an unnecessary instant . Mrs. Jennings therefore attending her up stairs into the sick chamber , to satisfy herself that all continued right , left her there again to her charge and her thoughts , and retired to her own room to write letters and sleep .