"He can't become a hanger-on of my family without my permission."
"He says he's not going to hang on, but to stand off. He's going to allow me full liberty of action and fair play."
"That's very kind of him."
"Only, when I choose to come back to him I shall find him waiting."
"I might suggest that you never go back to him at all, only that there's a better way of meeting the situation. That is to put a stop to the nonsense now; and I shall take steps to do it."
Dorothea preserved her self-control, but two tiny hectic spots began to burn in her cheeks, while she kept her eyes persistently lowered, as though to veil the spirit of determination glowing there.
"Hadn't you better leave that to me?" she asked, after a brief pause.
"I will, if you promise to put it through."
"You see," she answered, in a reasoning tone, "my whole object is not to promise anything—yet. I should think the advantage of that would strike you, if only from the point of view of business. It's like having the refusal of a picture or a piece of property. You may never want them; but it does no harm to know that nobody else can get them till you decide."
"Neither does it do any harm to let somebody else have a chance, when you know that you can't take them."