? ? ? ? "It is enough," said she; "to say that he is unlike Fanny is enough. It implies everything amiable. I love him already."
? ? ? ? "I think you will like him," said Elinor, "when you know more of him."
? ? ? ? "Like him!" replied her mother with a smile. "I feel no sentiment of approbation inferior to love."
? ? ? ? "You may esteem him."
? ? ? ? "I have never yet known what it was to separate esteem and love."
? ? ? ? Mrs. Dashwood now took pains to get acquainted with him. Her manners were attaching, and soon banished his reserve. She speedily comprehended all his merits; the persuasion of his regard for Elinor perhaps assisted her penetration; but she really felt assured of his worth: and even that quietness of manner, which militated against all her established ideas of what a young man's address ought to be, was no longer uninteresting when she knew his heart to be warm and his temper affectionate.
? ? ? ? No sooner did she perceive any symptom of love in his behaviour to Elinor, than she considered their serious attachment as certain, and looked forward to their marriage as rapidly approaching.
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