He's charming, handsome, manly, able to make a woman believe he loves her more than life itself, and he has an estate of his own, plus the prospect of inheriting Allenham (she need never know he very nearly lost them both).

And she was not overly fond of her guardians, nor they of her, so to be able to escape from their clutches to such a seemingly eligible young bachelor must have been a mercy. Perhaps rather like Charlotte Lucas, she just wanted to have a degree of independence and an "estabmlishment," and did not much care with whom. Willoughby, though completely without morals, certainly has much more to recommend him on the surface than Mr. Collins, but then again Mr. Collins is a constant source of shame and embarrassment in every social situation. I'm honestly not sure which is worse. A husband like Willoughby who just wanted me for my money and would probably end up making conquests elsewhere, or a husband who was never really in love with me, but who is constantly fawning all over me under the delusion that we were designed for one another and that I actually like it. *shudder*

-Sarah Hannah