You have known that I have not loved my cousin, and that I have loved this other man.

That is not nonsense; that at any rate is a stern reality, if there be anything real in the world." "Stern! you may well call it stern." "I mean unbending, strong, not to be overcome by outside circumstances.
If Mr.Annesley had not spoken to me as he did last night,--could never have so spoken to me,--I should have been a miserable girl, but my love for him would have been just as stern.

I should have remained and thought of it, and have been unhappy through my whole life.

But he has spoken, and I am exultant.

That is what I mean by stern.