BARON.
[starting from his chair]. And pray, how came this the subject of your conversation?
AMELIA.
[rising]. I brought it up.
BARON.
And what did you say?
AMELIA.
I said that birth and fortune were such old-fashioned things to me, I cared nothing about either: and that I had once heard my father declare, he should consult my happiness in marrying me, beyond any other consideration.
BARON.
I will once more repeat to you my sentiments. It is the custom in this country for the children of nobility to marry only with their equals; but as my daughter’s content is more dear to me than an ancient custom, I would bestow you on the first man I thought calculated to make you happy: by this I do not mean to say that I should not be severely nice in the character of the man to whom I gave you; and Mr. Anhalt, from his obligations to me, and his high sense of honour, thinks too nobly—
AMELIA.
Would it not be noble to make the daughter of his benefactor happy?
BARON.
But when that daughter is a child, and thinks like a child——
AMELIA.
No, indeed, papa, I begin to think very like a woman. Ask him if I don’t.
BARON.
Ask him! You feel gratitude for the instructions you have received from him, and fancy it love.
AMELIA.
Are there two gratitudes?