He hoped to rule by ruling the heart of this female.

He employed with her all the plasticity of his character, all the graces of his nature, all the fascinations of his genius; but Madame Roland had a preservative against the warrior's seductions that Dumouriez had not been accustomed to find in the women he had loved--austere virtue and a strong will.

There was but one means of captivating her admiration, and that was by surpassing her in patriotic devotion.

These two characters could not meet without contrasting themselves, nor understand without despising each other.
Very soon, therefore, Dumouriez considered Madame Roland as a stubborn bigot, and she estimated Dumouriez as a frivolous presuming man, finding in his look, smile, and tone of voice that audacity of success towards her sex which betrayed, according to her estimation, the free conduct of the females amongst whom he had lived, and which offended her decorum.
There was more of the courtier than the patriot in Dumouriez.

This French aristocracy of manners displeased the engraver's humble daughter; perhaps it reminded her of her lowly condition, and the humiliations of her childhood at Versailles.