] I heartily agree. I want to shake both of them for each longing after someone who has not indicated that the feeling is mutual, when they are both so suited for each other - both have good sense, maturity, and they can actually talk to one another.

Whether the feeling was mutual or not, in respect, to Edward and Marianne, would Brandon and Elinor end up being with those two or with each other? In other words, if Edward and Marianne did like Elinor and CB and were open to those two about it, it doesn't make up the sense that CB and Elinor are seem more compatible with each other than with the other two.

But you fall in love with who you want to, not who is best for you. That type of inconsistency and ill logic happens in real life, so maybe that's a reasonable explanation for the disparate couplings.

] The chemistry that causes one person to have a crush on another fades with time, but I think that the communication between CB and Elinor shows a chance at real, lasting happiness if the two were ever to get together.

I can't say for CB at this point in the book, but for Elinor, if she did have a crush on Edward, she has the type of personality that would be more loyal to that attachment, no matter how slight it is. In other words, she would be loyal and constant, even toward only a person she had a crush on.