"I have said so, and I did love him. In a certain way I love him still."
"So do I, papa."
"But I know him to be unworthy. Even if he had come here to offer you his hand I doubt whether I could have permitted an engagement. Do you know that within the last two months he has twice offered to marry another young woman, and I doubt whether he is not at this moment engaged to her?"
"Another?" said poor Clarissa.
"Yes, and that without a pretence of affection on his part, simply because he wanted to get money from her father."
"Are you sure, papa?" asked Clarissa, who was not prepared to believe, and did not believe this enormity on the part of the man she loved.
"I am quite sure. The father came to me to complain of him, and I had the confession from Ralph's own lips, the very day that he came here with his insulting offer to Mary Bonner."
"Did you tell Mary?"
"No. I knew that it was unnecessary. There was no danger as to Mary. And who do you think this girl was? The daughter of a tailor, who had made some money. It was not that he cared for her, Clary;—no more than I do! Whether he meant to marry her or not I do not know."
"I'm sure he didn't, papa," said Clarissa, getting up in bed.