that her sons should marry well. She disowns her eldest son for his engagement to Lucy Steele but her youngest son later marries the very same woman. Charlotte Palmer – the daughter of Mrs Jennings and the younger sister of Lady Middleton, Mrs Palmer is pleasant and friendly but quite silly, and laughs at inappropriate things, such as her husband's continual rudeness to her and to others. Thomas Palmer – the husband of Charlotte Palmer who is running for a seat in Parliament, but is idle, sarcastic and often rude. While obviously bored with and barely tolerant of his silly wife, he is more considerate toward the Dashwood sisters. Lucy Steele – (never called "Miss Steele") a young, distant relation of Mrs Jennings, who has for some time been secretly engaged to Edward Ferrars. She assiduously cultivates the friendship of Elinor Dashwood and her mother. Attractive but limited in formal education and financial means, she affects affable innocence but is actually manipulative and scheming. Anne "Nancy" Steele – (often called "Miss Steele") Lucy Steele's elder, socially inept, and less clever sister. Mr Harris – an apothecary who treats Marianne when she falls ill at Cleveland. Miss Sophia Grey – a wealthy heiress whom Mr Willoughby marries to retain his expensive lifestyle after he is disinherited by his aunt. Miss Morton – wealthy daughter of Lord Morton – whom Mrs Ferrars wants her eldest son, Edward, and later Robert, to marry. Mr Pratt – an uncle of Lucy Steele and Edward's tutor. Eliza Williams (Jr.) (daughter) – the ward of Col. Brandon, she is about 15 years old and bore an illegitimate child to John Willoughby. She has the same name as her mother. Eliza Williams (Sr.) (mother) – the former love interest of Colonel Brandon. Williams was Brandon's father's ward, and was forced by him to marry Brandon's older brother. The marriage was an unhappy one, and it is revealed that her daughter was left as Colonel Brandon's ward when he found his lost love dying in a poorhouse. Mrs Smith – the wealthy aunt of Mr Willoughby who disowns him for seducing and abandoning the young Eliza Williams, Col. Brandon's ward. Development of the novel Jane Austen wrote the first draft of the novel in the form of a novel-in-letters (epistolary form) perhaps as early as 1795 when she was about 19 years old, or 1797, at age 21,