"Beast!"
"Certainly; but then what was to be done? I had no income; nothing to support myself; much less you, with your elegant tastes."
"I could have gone on the boards again! I did not love you for your money; you know it, Malcolm."
"I do know it, my angel; and in that respect, as in all others, you were immeasurably above your fancied rival, who certainly loved me only for my rank."
"But why then did you not rather let me return to the boards?"
"Where your beauty brought you so many admirers and me so many rivals?"
"But I preferred you to them all."
"I know it, Faustina."
"Why then not let me go?"
"I could not bear the thought of it, my precious treasure. I preferred to sacrifice myself. The opportunity occurred in this way. You know that I left England as the bearer of dispatches to our minister in the United States."