Little did Mr. Willoughby imagine, I suppose, when his looks censured me for incivility in breaking up the party, that I was called away to the relief of one whom he had made poor and miserable; but had he known it, what would it have availed? Would he have been less gay or less happy in the smiles of your sister?
Brandon's point here is not about Willoughby fearing denunciation, but with respect to that point, I guess Willoughby would not even know that Eliza, surnamed Williams, was connected to Brandon.
And of course Brandon at the moment he left the party did not know that Willoughby was Eliza's seducer. But now I wonder: what did Brandon know about Willoughby before that party in October? The movies all make it seem that Brandon has long has the goods on Willoughby's character, and that Willoughby knows it.
