I must apologise - my comment was somewhat too dry. I didn't actually mean to call her snide, or anything like it, but merely that if you were looking for any evidence of Elinor's snideness anywhere in S&S, these words would be as close as you'd get - and they're nowhere near close enough.

However... I've reread the passage, and I'm not entirely convinced that there isn't something of a twinkle in her eye. She could be perfectly serious. But is there anything actually against a subtext that goes something like, "While you two were indulging yourselves voluntarily renewing, seeking and creating your sorrow again and again, giving yourselves wholly up to it and resolving never to admit consolation in the future (Ch.1), I was doing what was necessary: looking after our guest"?