She was unwilling to entertain the idea of any sort of romantic alliance but said she loved him dearly and that she didn’t intend to ever marry anyone, implying she loved him as a friend. Yet she also said she felt he was “a great deal too good” for her and at the end of the novel she praised him to be the sort of man all should aspire to be – so the “she didn’t feel that way about him” line is arguable. Nevertheless, how could she have come to believe whatever feelings she might have had for him as “right,” given her mother’s reasoning and her own personal lack of experience?
