Marianne is attracted to Willoughby. He is attracted to her.. But he "might" be any kind of guy... Mrs Dashwood however seems to fall in love with him as much as her daughter does and seems to make no attempt to make sure that they dont spend too mcuch time togehter or do something iffy like go off to Allenham together. If you have a nubile pretty daughter, a sensible mother or fathter would IMO try to make sure that she did not get too invovled with a man who might be OK but who might NOT be Ok. W might have been Ok from a character POV but he might still have had financial problems and as such, could not afford to marry a girl like Marianne who has only a tiny dowry... But Mrs D seems to positively encourage M to get deeply involved with W. M herself (as I think anyone will admit) makes herself dreadfully unhappy by fretting and fretting when he has go to London....Im not saying she should forget about him, but she should consider the possiblity that in going to London he might (since he hasn't asked her to marry him) be trying to cool down or break off their relationship. (I admit that it is unlikely that she will do so, which is why her mother should be trying to push her towards doing this. Instead Mrs D backs up Mariann'es plan to go to London, when its obvious that she's jsut trying to use Mrs Jennings to get to see Willoughby).