Willoughby’s almost daily visits to Barton Cottage while also ignoring others in favor of Marianne’s company suggests to me, whether for good or ill, he had some design on her despite the fact she had little fortune. He may have had designs from the start. Why was Willoughby about Barton Cottage on Tumble Day? It is all very fortuitous in my opinion, maybe too much so.

If we can believe Willoughby the “very first news” (14) he heard from Mrs. Smith upon arrival was that Barton Cottage had been let. He claims to have felt “an immediate satisfaction and interest in the event” (14). He claims to have forever laminated the emptiness of Sir John’s well situated cottage. Really? Surely Marianne is charmed by the sentiment but so not much I. I feel confident part of the news Mrs. Smith passed along was that the new occupants were a family of females—it would be a detail readily available. This seems a more probable reason for Willoughby’s interest in my opinion.

Willoughby was passing up the hill, “within a few yards of Marianne” (9), when she fell which means he came from the area of the cottage’s garden gate. He is attended by a gun and two pointers so he appears to be out shooting. It is plausible except that he is on Sir John’s manner. The “narrow winding valley of Allenham” (9) is about a mile and a half from the cottage. He has not been invited because when told of Willoughby’s gallantry Sir John exclaims “what, is he in the country?” (9). Despite appearances it seems to me Willoughby could be lurking about the cottage in hopes of checking out the ladies.