had good
reason for my qualms and anticipations.

It came. The alarm had not been a false one. Sir Peter, after conversing
with me for a short time, did, in clear and unmistakable terms, inform
me that he loved me, and asked me to marry him.

"I thank you," said I, mastering my impulse to cover my face with my
hands, and run shuddering away from him. "I thank you for the honor you
offer me, and beg to decline it."

He looked surprised, and still continued to urge me in a manner which
roused a deep inner feeling of indignation within me, for it seemed to
say that he understood me to be overwhelmed with the honor he proposed
to confer upon me, and humored my timidity about accepting it. There was
no doubt in his manner; not the shadow of a suspicion that I could be in
earnest. There was something that turned my heart cold within me--a
cool, sneering tone, which not all his professions of affection could
disguise. Since that time I have heard Sir Peter explicitly state his
conception of the sphere of woman in the world; it was not an exalted
one. He could not even now quite conceal that while he told me he wished
to make me his wife and the partner of his heart and possessions, yet he
knew that such professions were but words--that he did not sue for my
love (poor Sir Peter! I doubt if ever in his long life he was blessed
with even a momentary glimpse of the divine countenance of pure Love),
but offered to buy my youth, and such poor beauty as I might have, with
his money and his other worldly advantages.

Sir Peter was a blank, utter skeptic with regard to the worth of woman.
He did not believe in their virtue nor their self-respect; he believed
them to be clever actresses, and, taken all in all, the best kind of
amusement to be had for money. The kind of opinion was then new to me;
the effect of it upon my mind such as might be expected. I was
seventeen, and an ardent believer in all things pure and of good report.

Nevertheless, I remained composed, sedate, even courteous to the
last--till I had fairly made Sir Peter understand that no earthly power
should induce me to marry him; till I had let him see that I fully
comprehended the advantages of the position he offered me, and declined
them.

"Miss Wedderburn," said he, at last--and his voice was as unruffled as
my own; had it been more angry I should have feared it less--"do you
fear opposition? I do not think your parents would refuse their consent
to our unio