"I shall be neither harsh, nor hard, nor unjust.

You shall have the advantages and the disadvantages of the false position in which you have placed yourself.

My daughter believes that she loves one of the great poets of the day, whose fame is really that which has attracted her.

Well, I, her father, intend to give her the opportunity to choose between the celebrity which has been a beacon to her, and the poor reality which the irony of fate has flung at her feet.

Ought she not to choose between Canalis and yourself?
I rely upon your honor not to repeat what I have told you as to the state of my affairs.