What’s the verbal irony
Mr. John Dashwood did not have the strong feelings of the rest of the family ... but he promised to do everything in his power to make his sisters comfortable. His father was relaxed by such a promise, and Mr. John Dashwood had then leisure to consider how
much there might wisely be in his power to do for them.
He was not an unpleasant young man, unless to be rather cold hearted and rather selfish is to be
unpleasant, but he was, in general, well respected, since he conducted himself with manners in the
discharge of his ordinary duties.
Adapted from Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility
