"Sir!"
"To dare to propose to me—to me—to palm off a child—a criminal action! It is the first time in my life that I have received such an outrage, and I have not deserved it—heaven knows."
"But, who is wronged by it? My sister and the person she desires to marry are single; both regret bitterly the child they have lost; to deceive them is to restore to them happiness—life; it is to assure some forsaken young girl a most happy lot: thus it is a noble, generous action, and not a crime."
"Truly," cried the notary, with increasing indignation, "I see how the most execrable projects can be colored with—"
"But reflect."
"I repeat to you, madame, that it is infamous. It is a shame to see a woman of your rank contriving such abominations, to which your sister, I hope, is a stranger."
"Sir!"
"Enough, madame, enough! I am not a gallant, not I. I tell you the naked truth."
Sarah cast on the notary one of her dark looks, and said coldly, "You refuse?"
"No new insult, madame!"