"Now, my dear, don't be a fool. Of course all that is between you and him, and I don't in the least doubt that it is all as it should be. If Captain Aylmer had been the elder brother instead of the younger, and had all the Aylmer estates instead of the Perivale property, I know you would not accept him if you did not like him."
"I hope not."
"I am sure you would not. But when a girl with nothing a year has managed to love a man with two or three thousand a year, and has managed to be loved by him in return,—instead of going through the same process with the curate or village doctor,—it is a success, and her friends will always think so. And when a girl marries a gentleman, and a member of Parliament, instead of—; well, I'm not going to say anything personal,—her friends will congratulate her upon his position. It may be very wicked, and mercenary, and all that; but it's the way of the world."
"I hate hearing about the world."
"Yes, my dear; all proper young ladies like you do hate it. But I observe that such girls as you never offend its prejudices. You can't but know that you would have done a wicked as well as a foolish thing to marry a man without an adequate income."
"But I needn't marry at all."
"And what would you live on then? Come Clara, we needn't quarrel about that. I've no doubt he's charming, and beautiful, and—"
"He isn't beautiful at all; and as for charming—"
"He has charmed you at any rate."
"He has made me believe that I can trust him without doubt, and love him without fear."