My grandmother has brought me up, devoted herself to me almost, and she has her own views, her own plans.

I dare not frustrate them!' 'She would like to marry you to a man of rank and fortune--a man who will choose you, perhaps, because other people admire you, rather than because he himself loves you as you ought to be loved; who will choose you because you are altogether the best and most perfect thing of your year; just as he would buy a yearling at Newmarket or Doncaster.

Her ladyship means you to make a great alliances--coronets, not hearts, are the counters for her game; but, Lesbia, would you, in the bloom and freshness of youth--you with the pulses of youth throbbing at your heart--lend yourself to the calculations of age which has lived its life and forgotten the very meaning of love?
Would you submit to be played as a card in the game of a dowager's ambition?
Trust me, dearest, in the crisis of a woman's life there is one only counsellor she should listen to, and that counsellor is her own heart.

If you love me--as I dare to hope you do--trust in me, hold by me, and leave the rest to Heaven.

I know that I can make your life happy.' 'You frighten me by your impetuosity,' said Lesbia.