I think Mrs. Clay is quite as clever as her father and has a fighting chance to wheedle her protector into marriage. From this time forward there is a Victorian sobriety and a kind of shut-down of the free-wheeling Regency attitudes. Suppose she convinces him that he will be more comfortable in his home life if he does not have to keep up a front--if he can relax with someone who knows him and does not expect him to be a goodie-goodie. She has proven that she can flatter and she is well-looking. He has plenty of money. What if she persuades him that he can do exactly as he pleases and can defy social expectations once he is a baronet? She could catch him on his weak side in a dozen ways. What if, for instance, her abilities in the drawing room are mirrored in other parts of the house--and her (ahem) 'amiability' is difficult for him to replace? But I should not go on, for as Anne says there is always something offensive in the details of cunning! (hee hee)