Tom Jones Book 5, Chapter 3

Which All Who Have No Heart Will Think to Contain Much Ado About Nothing

• You might think that Tom would be overjoyed to discover these new feelings for Sophia.
• You would be at least half-wrong.
• Here are Tom's problems:
• (1) He can't actually be sure that Sophia loves him. What if she just feels sorry for him, or likes him as a friend?
• (2) Even if Sophia does love Tom, what about her father? Squire Western wants to marry Sophia to a rich man. He'll never agree to let Tom—who is not well-born and has no definite status in Squire Allworthy's household—marry his beloved daughter.
• (3) If Tom can't get Squire Western's consent, maybe they could elope. But eloping would be cruel to both Sophia and Tom's guardians.
• (4) And here's the biggest difficulty: what about Molly? If Tom left her, Molly would have nobody. So after a long night of freaking out, Tom resolves to think only of Molly and to turn his back on his feelings for Sophia. (Yeah, good luck with that, Tom.)