"And a coward."
"I cannot deny it."
"And a coxcomb."
"He is certainly very vain of his high birth and of his rank in the army: young men are apt to be in such cases."
"You would not consent to his marrying one of your daughters?"
"No; I have other views for them."
"And yet you profess to love your niece as affectionately as your daughters."
"You know I do, father."
"And loving her as you profess, you are striving to render that niece miserable for life by uniting her with one whom you admit to be a fool, a coward, and a vain fop."
The old Don, whose intellectuals were none of the brightest, had got himself, without perceiving it, completely into a premunire, by the Socratic mode of reasoning adopted by his more skilful antagonist, who at parting once more addressed him:—