---Honestly speaking I don't blame women at that time trying to secure there future :)

Nor do I. However, I do blame Lucy for many other things; the way she continually takes digs at Elinor, not to mention the cruel remark to Marianne about how she thinks no man will keep "engagements" after her experience with Willoughby, etc. fills me with the desperate desire to grab her by the hair and swat her against the wall a few times. I can see being concerned about your man being interested in another woman; I could also see giving the other woman a very clear signal that the territory is already claimed, so to speak. But when we are told that Elinor is glad to escape "the persecution [italics mine] of Lucy's friendship," I think that gives us an indication of just what a royal pain in the nether regions Lucy has been. Nope, no sympathy, not after the way Edward stood by her and how little she appreciates it. Many SUTHs to her!