] This...(snip)... makes me worder at the circular and convuluted reasoning that Fanny and John use.

I'm wondering right along with you! One thing that really struck me--and I hope my fellow group readers will forgive me for being very behind here--is how Fanny and John can spin something in one direction one minute and in a completely opposite direction the next.

In talking of her son's fortune, Fanny asks John, " How could he answer it to himself to rob his child, and his only child too, of so large a sum?" (Emphasis mine)

John quickly warms to Fanny;s argument and chimes in with, "The time may come when Harry will regret that so large a sum was parted with. If he should have a numerous family, for instance, it would be a very convenient addition." (Again, the emphasis is mine)

So here we have Fanny, in her efforts to emphasize the importance of not short-changing the child, (as if!) ;-p focusing on the fact that this is their only child, implying that this fact makes it all the more important to do right by him or some such notion. Then, in what is barely moments later for the reader, John is coming around to the notion that Fanny is right and seeing the fortune's importance in an opposite situation!

The irony and the outlandishness of it are mind-numbing, IMO. This chapter is a perfect example, methinks, of JA's keen understanding of the foibles in human nature and the masterful way in which she put that to paper.