It must be so understood altogether."
"But, papa, when we were at Liverpool--"
"I have told him everything, dearest," said Mrs. Garrow.
"I think I understand the whole," said the Major; "and in such a
matter as this I will not give you counsel on either side. But you
must remember that in making up your mind, you must think of him as
well as of yourself. If you do not love him;--if you feel that as
his wife you should not love him, there is not another word to be
said. I need not explain to my daughter that under such
circumstances she would be wrong to encourage the visits of a
suitor. But your mother says you do love him."
"I will not ask you. But if you do;--if you have so told him, and
allowed him to build up an idea of his life-happiness on such
telling, you will, I think, sin greatly against him by allowing a
false feminine pride to mar his happiness. When once a girl has
confessed to a man that she loves him, the confession and the love
together put upon her the burden of a duty towards him, which she
cannot with impunity throw aside." Then he kissed her, and bidding
her give him a reply on the morning of the new year, left her with
her mother.
She had four days for consideration, and they went past her by no
means easily.
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