The girls are invited to a party, as they are the assumed guests of John and Fanny. There they meet Robert Ferrars. What is Elinor's opinion of him?

Robert is as condescending toward Elinor as John is, though he makes far more of an effort to speak to the Dashwood girls than his sister Fanny ever attempts. Austen serves up more of her understated wit to mock Robert; her comment Elinor deems him unworthy of "the compliment of rational opposition" perfectly displays how Austen infuses proper diction with irony, to achieve a unique brand of social criticism.