He said it, she knew, to be contradicted. His bright proud eye spoke
the conviction that he was nice; and Anne Elliot was not out of his
thoughts, when he more seriously described the woman he should wish to
meet with. "A strong mind, with sweetness of manner," made the first
and the last of the description.
"That is the woman I want," said he. "Something a little inferior I
shall of course put up with, but it must not be much. If I am a fool,
I shall be a fool indeed, for I have thought on the subject more than
most men."