"Is it really so Miss Murray? and does your mama know it, and yet wish you to marry him?"
"To be sure she does! She knows more against him than I do, I believe: she keeps it from me lest I should be discouraged; not knowing how little I care about such things. For it's no great matter really: He'll be all right when he's married, as mama says; and reformed rakes make the best husbands, every body knows. I only wish he were not so ugly—that's all I think about—but then there's no choice here in the country, and papa will not let us go to London—"
"But I should think Mr. Hatfield would be far better."
"And so he would if he were lord of Ashby Park—there's not a doubt of it; but the fact is, I must have Ashby Park, whoever shares it with me."
"But Mr. Hatfield thinks you like him all this time; you don't consider how bitterly he will be disappointed when he finds himself mistaken."
"No indeed! It will be a proper punishment for his presumption—for ever daring to
