"You want to know what I would do with a man I hated, as you
_say_ you hate Mr. Redmain?--I would send for him at once--
not wait for him to come to me--and entreat him, _as he loved
me_, to deliver me from the dire necessity of obeying my
father. If he were a gentleman, as I hope he may be, he would
manage to get me out of it somehow, and wouldn't compromise me a
hair's breadth. But, that is, _if I were you_. If I were
_myself_ in your circumstances, and hated him as you do,
that would not serve my turn. I would ask him all the same to set
me free, but I would behave myself so that he could not do it.
While I begged him, I mean, I should make him feel that he could
not--should make him absolutely determined to marry me, at any
price to him, and at whatever cost to me. He should say to
himself that I did not mean what I said--as, indeed, for the sake
of my revenge, I should not. For that I would give anything--
supposing always, don't you know? that I hated him as you do Mr.
Redmain. He should declare to me it was impossible; that he would
die rather than give up the most precious desire of his life--and
all that rot, you know. I would tell him I hated him--only so
that he should not believe me. I would say to him, 'Release me,
Mr. Redmain, or I will make you repent it. I have given you fair
warning. I have told you I hated you.' He should persist, should
marry me, and then I _would_.
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