certain to bring the punishment it deserves. Stand firm,
and your mamma will soon relinquish her persecution; and the gentleman
himself will cease to pester you with his addresses if he finds them
steadily rejected.'

'Oh, no! mamma will weary all about her before she tires herself with her
exertions; and as for Mr. Oldfield, she has given him to understand that
I have refused his offer, not from any dislike of his person, but merely
because I am giddy and young, and cannot at present reconcile myself to
the thoughts of marriage under any circumstances: but by next season, she
has no doubt, I shall have more sense, and hopes my girlish fancies will
be worn away. So she has brought me home, to school me into a proper
sense of my duty, against the time comes round again. Indeed, I believe
she will not put herself to the expense of taking me up to London again,
unless I surrender: she cannot afford to take me to town for pleasure and
nonsense, she says, and it is not every rich gentleman that will consent
to take me without a fortune, whatever exalted ideas I may have of my own
attractions.'

'Well, Esther, I pity you; but still, I repeat, stand firm. You might as
well sell yourself to slavery at once, as marry a man you dislike. If
your mother and brother are unkind to you, you may leave them, but
remember you are bound to your husband for life.'

'But I cannot leave them unless I get married, and I cannot get married
if nobody sees me. I saw one or two gentlemen in London that I might
have liked, but they were younger sons, and mamma would not let me get to
know them--one especially, who I believe rather liked me--but she threw
every possible obstacle in the way of our better acquaintance. Wasn't it
provoking?'

'I have no doubt you would feel it so, but it is possible that if you
married him, you might have more reason to regret it hereafter than if
you married Mr. Oldfield. When I tell you not to marry without love, I
do not advise you to marry for love alone: there are many, many other
things to be considered. Keep both heart and hand in your own
possession, till you see good reason to part with them; and if such an
occasion should never present itself, comfort your mind with this
reflection, that though in single life your joys may not be very many,
your sorrows, at least, will not be more than you can bear. Marriage may
change your circumstances for the better, but, in my private opinion, it
is far mo