he will make a bad husband, Is it possible for
him to use a wife worse than I am used; particularly by my brother and
sister?

Ah, Niece! Ah, my dear! how firmly has this wicked man attached you!

Perhaps not, Madam. But really great care should be taken by fathers and
mothers, when they would have their daughters of their minds in these
particulars, not to say things that shall necessitate the child, in
honour and generosity, to take part with the man her friends are averse
to. But, waving all this, as I have offered to renounce him for ever, I
see now why he should be mentioned to me, nor why I should be wished to
hear any thing about him.

Well, but still, my dear, there can be no harm to let Mr. Solmes tell
you what Mr. Lovelace has said of you. Severely as you have treated Mr.
Solmes, he is fond of attending you once more: he begs to be heard on
this head.

If it be proper for me to hear it, Madam--

It is, eagerly interrupted she, very proper.

Has what he has said of me, Madam, convinced you of Mr. Lovelace's
baseness?

It has, my dear: and that you ought to abhor him for it.

Then, dear Madam, be pleased to let me hear it from your mouth: there
is no need that I should see Mr. Solmes, when it will have double the
weight from you. What, Madam, has the man dared to say of me?

My aunt was quite at a loss.

At last, Well, said she, I see how you are attached. I am sorry for it,
Miss. For I do assure you, it will signify nothing. You must be Mrs.
Solmes; and that in a very few days.

If consent of heart, and assent of voice, be necessary to a marriage, I
am sure I never can, nor ever will, be married to Mr. Solmes. And what
will any of my relations be answerable for, if they force my hand into
his, and hold it there till the service be read; I perhaps insensible,
and in fits, all the time!

What a romantic picture of a forced marriage have you drawn, Niece!
Some people would say, you have given a fine description of your own
obstinacy, child.

My brother and sister would: but you, Madam, distinguish, I am sure,
between obstinacy and aversion.

Supposed aversion may owe its rise to real obstinacy, my dear.

I know my own heart, Madam. I wish you did.

Well, but see Mr. Solmes once more, Niece. It will oblige and make for
you more than you imagine.

What should I see him for, Madam?--Is the man fond of hearing me declare
my aversion to him?--Is he desirous of having me more and more incense
my f