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While Tom appreciates Sophia's beauty and abilities, he has not fallen in love with her. The narrator speculates that this may stem from idiocy, or from bad taste, but the truth is that Tom is in love with another woman. The narrator imagines that the reader will be indignant that he has heard nothing of this girl, who is in fact the second eldest of the five children of Black George. Molly Seagrim, one of the country's best-looking girls, has transfixed Tom's attentions to the point where his inclinations are to try and force himself upon her. Tom's morals, however, prevent him from doing so. Molly's beauty is of a rough, unfeminine hue, and her personality is not particularly feminine either—we learn that "Jones had more Regard for her Virtue than she herself." Tom tries to stay away so that Molly will keep her chastity, but she is insistent and eventually has her way. Tom convinces himself, however, that he seduced Molly. Tom is the kind of hero who cannot receive without returning, in love, and he has therefore not returned Sophia's affections because he cannot bear to leave Molly in poverty. Nor does Tom wish to deceive Sophia as long as he is still attached to Molly.