Firstly, Miss Hawkins went to Bath to marry ("The advantages of Bath to the young are pretty generally understood"(32)), and the same may be said of "Mrs Jeffereys - Clara Partridge, that was -and of the two Milmans, now Mrs Bird and Mrs James"(32)

For a lady who likes to lead, and one who would be obliged to return not to Suckling Grove but to the mortification of her uncles house in Bristol, where she "with her own good will, would never stir"(32) to go, the bells of Christmas and of her friends weddings would be an ominous reminder- "here is the new year come! March will soon be here."

But, as Mrs Elton used to say in her single days, "if things are going untowardly one month, they are sure to mend the next"(32) and from almost the moment Mr Elton stepped out of the coach, "the progress of the affair was so glorious - the steps so quick, from the accidental [for Mr Elton] rencountre, to the dinner at Mr Green's, and the party at Mrs Brown's ... the lady had been so easily impressed - so sweetly disposed - had in short, to use a most intelligible phase, been so very ready to have him"(22)