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She began now to comprehend that he was exactly the man who, in

disposition and talents, would most suit her. His understanding

and temper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her

wishes. It was an union that must have been to the advantage of

both: by her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been

softened, his manners improved; and from his judgment,

information, and knowledge of the world, she must have received

benefit of greater importance.

But no such happy marriage could now teach the admiring multitude

what connubial felicity really was. An union of a different

tendency, and precluding the possibility of the other, was soon

to be formed in their family.

How Wickham and Lydia were to be supported in tolerable

independence she could not imagine. But how little of permanent

happiness could belong to a couple who were only brought together

because their passions were stronger than their virtue, she could

easily conjecture.