Sentence:  The thing that was best for her would no doubt be to become the wife of the man to whose suit she should incline her ear. That this would be the best thing for the gentleman in question was however a very different matter, and Sherringham's final conviction was that it would never do for him to act the part of that <WSD>hypothetic</WSD> personage. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  existing as an abstract concept rather than a concrete reality