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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Emma by Jane Austen: "Not till the reserve ceases towards oneself; and then the attraction
may be the greater. But I must be more in want of a friend,
or an agreeable companion, than I have yet been, to take
the trouble of conquering any body's reserve to procure one.
Intimacy between Miss Fairfax and me is quite out of the question.
I have no reason to think ill of her--not the least--except that
such extreme and perpetual cautiousness of word and manner,
such a dread of giving a distinct idea about any body, is apt
to suggest suspicions of there being something to conceal."
He perfectly agreed with her: and after walking together so long,
and thinking so much alike, Emma felt herself so well acquainted with him,
Emma |
