But it provokes me out of all patience with them." "It's a strange idea, certainly," said Mr.Armand, in momentary abstraction of thought; and then bidding Uncle Joseph good morning, he walked hastily along, his mind in a state of fermentation.
The truth was, Mr.Armand had become much attached to Emily Ludlow, for she was a girl of imposing appearance and winning manners.

But this staggered him.

If she were such a slave to fashion and observance, she was not the woman for his wife.

As he reflected upon the matter, and reviewed his intercourse with her, he could remember many things in her conversation and conduct that he did not like.

He could distinctly detect a degree of self-estimation consequent upon her station in society, that did not meet his approbation--because it indicated a weakness of mind that he had no wish to have in a wife.