"most of us wind up like the Colonel, ignoring their surface faults and appreciating the warm heart and sincerely good intentions beneath the chatty busy-bee surface."

As if I needed any more. ;-) But seriously, it must be a trial for a man of his temperament to constantly be a target for Mrs. Jennings' matchmaking schemes, and yet he treats her with unfailing courtesy and respect. (I always have to chuckle over the line about how he answers her inquiries without satisfying her in any.) Brandon is a gentleman in all senses of the word.