"Yes! thank God; human feeling is like the mighty rivers that bless the earth: it does not wait for beauty - it flows with resistless force and brings beauty with it."
George Eliot's writing style let's the audience participate in the story. We know this is a story. We are supposed to believe that the story is a true one, and that Eliot is merely retelling it, having heard the account from Adam Bede himself, after the events took place. She also has a way of telling the story in both past and present tense, something which is fervently poo-pooed in writing classes, but works rather well in this case.
By this stage in the book, two men are in love with the same girl. Hetty is the prettiest girl in town, but true to cliche she's doesn't have the beauty of character to compliment her good looks. This is not to say that she's a terrible person, just young, naive, and totally aware of how well she catches the eyes of men in town. Poor Adam Bede loves her. I'm not sure how well he loves her, because I haven't seen them interact yet, but I have a feeling he could just as easily love someone else. Arthur Donnethorne, the local landowner, is also in love with Hetty. He knows however, that she is far beneath his class, and that his attentions toward her could never come of anything serious. Too bad for Hetty that she's already been kissed by Arthur and is now planning the rest of her life with him.
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