I throw out these queries for intelligent readers to answer, who know, at once, how credulous we are, and how sceptical, how soft and how obstinate, how firm for others and how diffident about ourselves: meanwhile, it is certain that our friend William Dobbin, who was personally of so complying a disposition that if his parents had pressed him much, it is probable he would have stepped down into the kitchen and married the cook, and who, to further his own interests, would have found the most insuperable difficulty in walking across the street, found himself as busy and eager in the conduct of George Osborne's affairs, as the most selfish tactician could be in the pursuit of his own.

We can be firm for others, though diffident about ourselves; and so William Dobbin - who was so complying that if his parents had pressed him to, he would have married the cook - found himself as busy and eager in George Osborne's affairs as the most selfish man could be in pursuit of his own.
