"The idea has been put into your head by a foolish, chattering old woman, if you call her a circumstance, and, coming from that quarter, is not worth taking seriously for an instant."
"I do not know so much about that: it is true, she had no business to say it, but there was a reason in what she said; Miss Darcy would make an admirable Lady Bertram. Imagine my father's and mother's satisfaction, if I could present such a girl to them as their daughter."
"Good God, Tom!" exclaimed William, tearing his arm away, "the cold-blooded way in which you talk is more than one can bear. Weighing one girl against another, as if it were a question of relative merit, which you would throw the handkerchief to. It is not much of a compliment to Miss Darcy, to admit that you never thought whether she had attractions or not, until Mrs. Jennings suggested it to you."
"I am not considering paying compliments to Miss Darcy, and I do not see why you should get so hot," rejoined his cousin. "I merely wanted to talk it out with you quietly, and ask your opinion; but it is perfectly useless if you will fly into a passion at a word."
"Well, what do you want my opinion about?" demanded William, trying to speak in his ordinary tones.
Tom was easily placated, and really wanted to be talking, so he resumed: "My difficulty is that I am more or less involved with Isabella. Of course, we are both perfectly free; nothing has passed between us that she could construe into an engagement; I had to promise my parents that: but at the same time I practically promised myself that I wouldn't do anything until I had seen her again, which I expect to do in January. Now, for the sake of this connection, would it be better for me to break off entirely with the Thorpes by degrees? You know, I like Isabella very much, it is her family that one sticks at, while these Darcys are unexceptionable in every way; but she herself is a devilishly fine girl, with far more style about her than Miss Darcy, you must admit that."
"I think that the two ladies are not to be mentioned in the same breath with each other," said William, with difficulty restraining his indignation.
"You think not? that was what I wanted to arrive at; well, perhaps you are right, though I always thought you needlessly prejudiced against poor Isabella. I certainly feel more and more the advantages of such an alliance as this, on the worldly side, that is; for their dispositions, I fancy that of my old friend would suit me best."
"Tom," said William, turning to face his cousin fully, "I cannot think what possesses you to talk in this detestable way. Can you not feel how horrible it is? If you care for Miss Thorpe, you cannot think of marrying a girl you meet directly after leaving her, and have only known for a week. Whereas, if you think for one moment of Miss Darcy with the feelings a man ought to have, if marriage is in his mind, how can you possibly go on making comparisons between her and Miss Thorpe? Either way, it is abominable treatment of one of them."
"My dear William, you are going to the other extreme. Just now, you told me not to take anything Mrs. Jennings said seriously, yet you are assuming me to be in the most sober earnest all round, when all I want is to give the matter the consideration it deserves. Miss Darcy is very charming, but I am quite heart-whole where she is concerned at present, and so, no doubt, is she as regards me. But everything must have a beginning, and if such difficulties are to be put in way of my marrying Isabella, I could hardly do better than this; at any rate, it is worth thinking of. I shall go home and see how things develop in the course of the weeks. I can always come over again, you know; it is not the ends of the earth."