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'Pray, my dear aunt, what is the difference in matrimonial

affairs between the mercenary and the prudent motive?

Where does discretion end, and avarice begin? Last Christ-

mas you were afraid of his marrying me, because it would be

imprudent; and now, because he is trying to get a girl with

only ten thousand pounds, you want to find out that he is

mercenary.'

'If you will only tell me what sort of girl Miss King is, I

shall know what to think.'

'She is a very good kind of girl, I believe. I know no

harm of her.'

'But he paid her not the smallest attention till her grand-

father's death made her mistress of this fortune?'

'No -- why should he? If it were not allowable for him to

gain _my_ affections, because I had no money, what occasion

could there be for making love to a girl whom he did not care

about, and who was equally poor?'

'But there seems indelicacy in directing his attentions

towards her so soon after this event.'

'A man in distressed circumstances has not time for all

those elegant decorums with other people may observe. If

_she_ does not object to it, why should _we?'_

_'Her_ not objecting does not justify _him._ It only shows

her being deficient in something herself -- sense or feeling.'

'Well,' cried Elizabeth, 'have it as you choose. He shall

be mercenary, and _she_ shall be foolish.'

'No, Lizzy, that is what I do _not_ choose. I should be

sorry, you know, to think ill of a young man who has lived so

long in Derbyshire.'

'Oh, if that is all, I have a very poor opinion of young men

who live in Derbyshire; and their intimate friends who live

in Hertfordshire are not much better. I am sick of them all.

Thank Heaven! I am going to-morrow where I shall find a

man who has not one agreeable quality, who has neither

manner nor sense to recommend him. Stupid men are the

only ones worth knowing after all.'

'Take care, Lizzy; that speech savours strongly of dis-

appointment.'

Before they were separated by the conclusion of the play,

she had the unexpected happiness of an invitation to accom-

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