"What have I done to deserve this want of confidence ?" Diana made no reply, and Norbert, believing that he understood the reason why she refused to fly with him, said, "Is it because you have no faith in me, that you will not accompany me in my flight ?" "No; I have perfect faith in you." "What is it, then?
Do I not offer you fortune and happiness?
Tell me what it is then." She drew herself up, and said proudly, "Up to this time, my conscience has enabled me to hold my own against all the scandalous gossip that has been flying about, but now it says, 'Halt, Diana de Laurebourg! You have gone far enough.' My burden is heavy, my heart is breaking, but I must draw back now.

No, Norbert; I cannot fly with you." She paused for a moment, as though unable to proceed, and then went on with more firmness, "Were I alone and solitary in the world, I might act differently; but I have a family, whose honor I must guard as I would my own." "A family indeed, which sacrifices you to your elder brother." "It may be so, and therefore my task is all the greater.

Who ever head of virtue as something easy to practise ?" Norbert never remembered what an example of rebellion she had set.
"My heart and my conscience dictate the same course to me.

The result must ever be fatal, when a young girl sets at defiance the rules and laws of society; and you would never care to look with respect on one upon whom others gazed with the eye of contempt." "What sort of an opinion have you of me, then ?" "I believe you to be a man, Norbert.

Let us suppose that I fly with you, and that the next day I should hear that my father has been killed in a duel fought on my account; what then?
Believe me, that when I tell you to fly by yourself, I give you the best advice in my power.