'My dear Aunt Polly, it won't do; I'm not going to be caught, and so you may as well give it over.' That was what he wished her to understand;--but he would not say it in such language.

Much was due to her, though she was struggling to catch him in a trap.

'When I had made such a fool of myself before I went--about money,' he said, 'I thought that was all over.' 'But you have made anything but a fool of yourself since,' she replied triumphantly; 'you have gone out into the world like a man, and have made your fortune, and have so returned that everybody is proud of you.
Now you can take a wife to yourself and settle down, and be a happy goodman.' It was exactly his view of life;--only there was a difference about the wife to be taken.

He certainly had never said a word to his cousin which could justify this attack upon him.

The girl had been brought to him in a cupboard, and he had been told that he was to marry her! And that when he had been young and drowned with difficulties.