No chance of it! You can't catch me that way, girl. I'll carry the war into the enemy's country. Why do you drive other people to the altar and let your own whole neighborhood joke you about being the Sleeping Beauty and the virgin farmer?
ADELAIDE (laughing).
Well, so they do.
COLONEL.
The richest heiress in the whole district! Courted by a host of adorers, yet so firmly intrenched against all sentiment; no one can comprehend it.
ADELAIDE.
My dear Colonel, if our young gentlemen were as lovable as certain older ones—but, alas! they are not.
COLONEL.
You shan't escape me. We shall hold you fast in town, until we find one among our young men whom you will deem worthy to be enrolled under your command. For whoever be your chosen husband, he will have the same experience I have had—namely, that, first or last, he will have to do your bidding.
ADELAIDE (quickly).