HENRIETTE. Because I'm not going to give you the sort of answer you'd like.
JACQUES. You don't—you don't think I'd make a good husband?
HENRIETTE. Frankly, no.
JACQUES. I don't please you?
HENRIETTE. As a cousin you are charming; as a husband you would be quite impossible.
JACQUES. What have you against me?
HENRIETTE. Nothing that you're to blame for. It is merely the fault of my character; that forces me to refuse you.
JACQUES. But I can't see why you——?
HENRIETTE. [With an air of great importance.] A great change is taking place in the hearts of us women. We have resolved henceforward not to be treated as dolls, but as creatures of reason. As for me, I am most unfortunate, for nobody ever did anything but flatter me. I have always been too self-satisfied, too——
JACQUES. You have always been the most charming of women, the most——