Accidentally meeting with distant relations able to invite the sisters for a visit to their home no more than a half mile from the residence of one’s romantic rival is a bit much for coincidence. Edward’s talk of Elinor worried Lucy and I agree his leaving Longstaple for Barton Cottage must have rankled like nobody’s business. I daresay, as Elinor also believes (23), all this made Lucy anxious to stake her prior claim to Edward. Sir John tells Elinor and Marianne “they both [Miss Steeles] long to see you of all things” (21). Lucy’s aggressive behavior towards Elinor—forcing confidences, extracting promises, begging personal advice and favors all the while gaging Elinor’s every reaction suggests Lucy is not one to sit on her duff while Edward goes to moon over her rival. If Lucy did not already have engagements in Exeter they probably would have been easy to arrange. Lucy could have learned of Mrs. Jennings and the Middletons from Edward. Lucy told Elinor she received an unusually short, one page letter from Edward before she left Exeter (22). If true, this letter was likely penned during or just after his visit to Barton. Edward arrived at Barton on 16 November, left on 22 November and Lucy and Anne met Mrs. Jennings and Sir John on 27 November. There is a five to seven day window for him to send and for her to receive the letter. I think a capable girl like Lucy would have little difficulty finagling an introduction to Mrs. Jennings. So just to wrap up—I think Lucy schemed her way into Barton. (:D)