"Then for God's sake leave her alone, Madam, leave her to God. If you are right about her, and she does marry, let it be at her own time and by her own choice; nothing but harm can come of forcing her inclinations in any way."
"But, Doctor, she has already refused two of the most eligible—I think it a poor return after all I have done for her—"
"Let her refuse ten, let her refuse twenty! To show her gratitude must she sell her body to the highest bidder?"
Fru Boyesen bounded rather than rose from her chair; the very ribbons on her bonnet bristled with indignation. Her back was a study in outraged virtue as she moved majestically towards the door. The doctor was before her.
"One moment, Madam, I beg!"
"I have heard quite enough, more than enough," she said in a frozen voice.
"My dear lady, I beg your pardon if my words were too forcible; what I intended to say was that should your niece marry a man for his position, without love for him, it would be equivalent to selling herself, and you who have her ultimate happiness at heart would not wish that, I am sure." He smiled, and he had a most winning smile. "My dear Fru Boyesen, you come to discuss this matter with me; I am an old man, you are a widow, why should we mince matters?"
His tone, grave and kindly, mollified her somewhat: she wavered an instant, and answered.
"It shocked me that you could speak of my niece's selling herself—an honourable marriage—"
"Just so, Madam, an 'honourably' married woman who does not love her husband and has not loved him, who has married him because he is wealthy or of good family—" he deliberately brought his argument within the range of her comprehension—"is lower in my eyes than the woman who gives herself for love only, dispensing with ceremony, or who sells herself for hire, to get her bread."