Emma would enjoy being mistress here; she would do it well, too; and having Hunsdon, she would not miss anything else that might be wanting.' With that he went out of the room; and after awhile I persuaded myself that he meant nothing serious by what he had said.

However, Lady Dighton has spoken to me of the same thing since.

Both she and I are convinced now that Maurice thinks--you may be, better then we are, able to understand why--that he has lost Lucia, and that, therefore, a marriage of convenience is all that he can hope for.
Perhaps I am mistaken, or, at all events, too soon alarmed; but the mere idea of his proposing to this young lady throws me into a panic.

If she should accept him (and Lady Dighton thinks she probably would), it would be a life-long misery.

I am old-fashioned enough to think it would be a sin.