You detected the secret of my heart; you knew that Mrs.
Ashleigh would not wish to see her daughter the wife of a provincial physician." "Am I sure, or are you sure, that the daughter herself would accept that fate; or if she accepted it, would not repent ?" "Do you not think me the vainest of men when I say this,--that I cannot believe I should be so enthralled by a feeling at war with my reason, unfavoured by anything I can detect in my habits of mind, or even by the dreams of a youth which exalted science and excluded love, unless I was intimately convinced that Miss Ashleigh's heart was free, that I could win, and that I could keep it! Ask me why I am convinced of this, and I can tell you no more why I think that she could love me than I can tell you why I love her!" "I am of the world, worldly; but I am a woman, womanly,--though I may not care to be thought it.

And, therefore, though what you say is, regarded in a worldly point of view, sheer nonsense, regarded in a womanly point of view, it is logically sound.

But still you cannot know Lilian as I do.

Your nature and hers are in strong contrast.

I do not think she is a safe wife for you.