This is around the same age as some of Austen's male love interests. Mr. Darcy was 28. Many of the male targets of Austen's marriage plots were older than their female counterparts.

Austen reiterates the idea of gossip that is mistaken and misconstrued, and it is both relatively innocuous and sometimes effective to the plot by introducing conflict. For example, in Pride and Prejudice with the gossip over Mr. Bingley and who would join his party, the story of Mr. Darcy's treatment of Mr. Wickham, and then the suggested engagement between Darcy and Lizzy Bennett.

This phrase is often used in Austen's works, referring to the particular society or selected families a person interacts with, and which usually indicates a level of social class. In Pride and Prejudice, Mrs. Gardener says she "moved in different circles" from the Darcys, and in Emma, Mrs. Elton hopes to install Miss Fairfax as a governess in a better circle than she might be able to procure on her own.

Links to common words/themes throughout the annotations

By comparing Pride and Prejudice's concerns of marriage to Emma and Mansfield Park, Moe improves her argument about Austen's comprehension of marriage by using relevant texts to apply to Charlotte and Elizabeth's respective situations.

Jane Austen use of they; also Thackeray