A Growing Attachment — Sense and Sensibility

Willoughby calls the morning after the rescue and wins the cottage with ease. He and Marianne discover identical passions for music, dancing, and the same poets; he agrees with every rapturous opinion she offers, and within one visit they talk like old friends. Elinor teases that Marianne has already exhausted every subject of importance; Marianne retorts that reserve and weather talk would be false decorum. Willoughby returns daily until Marianne's ankle heals, then keeps coming anyway. He reads and sings with a sensibility Edward lacked, and Mrs. Dashwood soon hopes for two sons-in-law in Edward and Willoughby.

Elinor alone notices his rash judgments and contempt for ordinary politeness. Marianne believes her declaration that no man could satisfy her has been proved wrong; Willoughby seems every dream made flesh. Meanwhile Colonel Brandon's steady attention passes unnoticed except by Elinor, who pities his silent rivalry with a rival of five and twenty. Willoughby and Marianne mock Brandon as respectable but dull; Elinor defends his sense and experience. Willoughby jokes that he dislikes Brandon for rain, curricle criticism, and refusing a brown mare, yet the chapter leaves a trace of unease beneath the joy: Marianne has found intensity, but Elinor sees how quickly admiration can outrun knowledge.