Mrs G We did not talk on the subject at all.
Mr F Did I ever presume, on the advantage of having you in my power, to venture on the smallest liberty with you; or ever deviate from that respect in my behaviour, that I was used, at all other times, to treat you with?
Mrs G I do not say you did; and it was that very behaviour that inclined me to imagine you had other thoughts than those I find you have.
Mr F You drew a wrong conclusion, though it is to be confessed not a very unnatural one. Such a behaviour might have been so construed by a lady otherwise circumstanced than you were; but I think a woman of your sagacity might have concluded, that, with Mrs Gerrarde, a man would first have tried his fortune upon gentler terms than those of matrimony.
Mrs G Well, well (peevishly); I do not understand your riddles: to the point.
Mr F Why, the point, in short, is this; that, without any particular designs on your person, my whole view, in carrying you out of England, was to break off your intercourse with Mr Arnold.
(She seemed thunder-struck; but recovering herself, And is this what I am to hear calmly? And she flounced off the chair to the other end of the room.
I followed her; and, taking her hand, begged she would sit down again, and hear me out. I drew her to a chair, and gently set her down in it).
Mr F Now, for your own sake, hear me with patience; violence or perverseness will be of no use to you.
Mrs G Very well, Sir; I am your prisoner; your slave at present: say what you please; ’tis your turn now.