“Because you were grave and silent,and gave me no encouragement.”
“A man who had felt less,might.”
“For the liveliness of your mind,I did.”
“But I was embarrassed.”
“How unlucky that you should have a reasonable answer to give, and that I should be so reasonable as to admit it!But I wonder how long you would have gone on,if you had been left to yourself. I wonder when you would have spoken, if I had not asked you! My resolution of thanking you for your kindness to Lydia had certainly great effect.Too much,I am afraid;for what becomes of the moral,if our comfort springs from a breach of promise?for I ought not to have mentioned the subject.This will never do.”
“You may as well call it impertinence at once.It was very little less.The fact is, that you were sick of civility, of deference, of officious attention.You were disgusted with the women who were always speaking,and looking,and thinking for your approbation alone. I roused, and interested you, because I was so unlike them. Had you not been really amiable, you would have hated me for it;but in spite of the pains you took to disguise yourself, your feelings were always noble and just;and in your heart,you thoroughly despised the persons who so assiduously courted you.There―I have saved you the trouble of accounting for it;and really, all things considered, I begin to think it perfectly reasonable.To be sure, you knew no actual good of me―but nobody thinks of that when they fall in love.”