 vivacity,
and above all, when she heard him declare that of music and dancing he was
passionately fond, she gave him such a look of approbation as secured the
largest share of his discourse to herself for the rest of his stay.
    It was only necessary to mention any favourite amusement to engage her to
talk. She could not be silent when such points were introduced, and she had
neither shyness nor reserve in their discussion. They speedily discovered that
their enjoyment of dancing and music was mutual, and that it arose from a
general conformity of judgment in all that related to either. Encouraged by this
to a further examination of his opinions, she proceeded to question him on the
subject of books; her favourite authors were brought forward and dwelt upon with
so rapturous a delight, that any young man of five and twenty must have been
insensible indeed, not to become an immediate convert to the excellence of such
works, however disregarded before. Their taste was strikingly alike. The same
books, the same passages were idolized by each - or if any difference appeared,
any objection arose, it lasted no longer than till the force of her arguments
and the brightness of her eyes could be displayed. He acquiesced in all her
decisions, caught all her enthusiasm; and long before his visit concluded, they
conversed with the familiarity of a long-established acquaintance.
    »Well, Marianne,« said Elinor, as soon as he had left them, »for one morning
I think you have done pretty well. You have already ascertained Mr. Willoughby's
opinion in almost every matter of importance. You know what he thinks of Cowper
and Scott; you are certain of his estimating their beauties as he ought, and you
have received every assurance of his admiring Pope no more than is proper. But
how is your acquaintance to be long supported, under such extraordinary dispatch
of every subject for discourse? You will soon have exhausted each favourite
topic. Another meeting will suffice to explain his sentiments on picturesque
beauty, and second marriages, and then you can have nothing farther to ask.« -
    »Elinor,« cried Marianne, »is this fair? is this just? are my ideas so
scanty? But I see what you mean. I have been too much at my ease, too happy, too
frank. I have erred against every common-place notion of decorum; I have been
open and sincere where I ought to have been reserved, spiritless, dull, and
deceitful: - had I talked only of the weather and the roads, and had I spoken
only once in ten minutes
