As well as disappointments about marriage, Elizabeth Elliot now had something else to worry about. Her father spent freely, but could not pay all the bills, and now owed money to a great number of people. In Sir Walter’s opinion, a baronet had to live in a certain style; he was too proud to be careful. While Lady Elliot lived, she had helped to manage her husband’s money, but since her death there had been no one to prevent Sir Walter from spending far too much.
　　He asked Elizabeth where he could make cuts in his spend-ing. She could only suggest giving less money to the poor in the village, and not buying Anne her usual birthday present, but that would only save a very little.
　　除了關(guān)于婚姻的傷心往事之外，伊麗莎白?埃利奧特現(xiàn)在還有別的事情要操心。她父親花錢隨心所欲，卻沒有能力支付所有的賬單，以致如今債臺(tái)高筑。在沃爾特爵士看來，準(zhǔn)男爵必須生活得體面。可他太愛面子，花錢不謹(jǐn)慎。埃利奧特太太在世時(shí)，她尚能幫助丈夫管理錢財(cái)，可自從她去世之后，就無人能阻止沃爾特爵士大肆揮霍了。沃爾特爵土詢問伊麗莎白可以在哪些方面削減開銷，她只能建議減少給村里窮人的施舍，同時(shí)不再按照慣例給安妮購(gòu)買生日禮物，可這樣也只能節(jié)省很少的開銷。