I want a wife; or rather, my neighbors seem bent upon finding me one; and, if the worst has to come to the worst, I prefer to choose for myself.

Matrimony, however, is about the very last state of life that I desire, and I take it to be the same with you.
Therefore--to put the cart before the horse--you would suit me ideally.
One's own life would be unaltered, but the Delverton mothers would cease from troubling, and at the head of my establishment there would be a lady of whom I should be most justly proud.

And even in my own life I should, I hope, be the more than occasional gainer by her society; may I also add, by her sympathy, by her advice?
Mrs.Minchin," cried Steel, with sudden feeling, "the conditions shall be very rigid; my lawyer shall see to that; nor shall I allow myself a loophole for any weakness or nonsense whatsoever in the future.

Old fellows like myself have made fools of themselves before to-day, but you shall be safeguarded from the beginning.

Let there be no talk or thought of love between us from first to last! But as for admiration, I don't mind telling you that I admire you as I never admired any woman in the world before; and I hope, in spite of that, we shall be friends." Still the indicative mood, still not for a moment the conditional! Rachel did not fail to make another note; but now there was nothing bitter even in her thoughts.