It did cross my mind that it would be a good way for him to get rid of Lucy; it would even leave way for him to possibly approach Elinor at some point down the line. Even though Edward would have considered it a lucky break if Lucy had been willing to break the engagement, I really believe Edward is being sincere here and is not being manipulative in any way. Surely he is not 'monstrous happy' as filtered through Anne (it's more likely just an over exaggerated expression) but there does seem to be sense of a burden being lifted from Edward, a sense of direction and forward-movement. His mother's control was like a dark cloud hovering over him every where he went. Moving out from under it must feel like walking into a beam of sunlight.

Edward seems to have resigned himself to having Lucy for a wife, has taken a the step and finally chosen a profession for himself and probably feels he will have a fairly decent life with her. While it would not be the level of happiness he would have with Elinor, I think he has accepted that Elinor is lost to him and that a life with Lucy might work out and if not he will have another side of his life that he seems well-suited for and will likely enjoy. It wouldn’t surprise me if Lucy tried to be a Fanny. She might have some degree of success but Edward is no John Dashwood; Edward has too much of a conscience, too duty-bound to be talked out of something like breaking a promise as his engagement to Lucy has demonstrated and he is a wiser, more experienced Edward than the one who allowed himself to get engaged to Lucy in the first place. It could only be hoped that he will have a positive effect on Lucy when they get married.

It is just so refreshing to see Edward taking command of his life. I think those three days he was away, was time he needed to be alone, get his thoughts together, and resolve on how he was going to proceed with his life. Back when he visited Barton Cottage, I almost wrote a post about how he just seemed to be such a ditherer drifting about like a Sad Sack. I wanted him to just take a risk and tell his mother he was going to take orders, do something he wanted to do, this one thing. Just do it!. It wouldn’t have been advisable to have said anything about Lucy but his mother might not have disowned him for choosing his own profession. And if she did, well we see that, when pushed against the wall, he chose to give up everything anyway to keep his promise. He might as well have done it for himself and gotten a life long before now. It may have been forced on him but at least now he is doing something and that in itself is bound to lift his spirits a good deal.