This put my mother into a great passion; she told me she knew it would be to no purpose to speak to my father upon any such subject; that he knew too well what was my interest to give his consent to anything so much for my hurt; and that she wondered how I could think of any such thing after the discourse I had had with my father, and such kind and tender expressions as she knew my father had used to me; and that, in short, if I would ruin myself, there was no help for me; but I might depend I should never have their consent to it; that for her part she would not have so much hand in my destruction; and I should never have it to say that my mother was willing when my father was not.
Cette ouverture jeta ma mère en grande émotion:--«Cela n'est pas proposable, me répondit-elle; je me garderai bien d'en parler à ton père; il connaît trop bien tes véritables intérêts pour donner son assentiment à une chose qui te serait si funeste. Je trouve étrange que tu puisses encore y songer après l'entretien que tu as eu avec lui et l'affabilité et les expressions tendres dont je sais qu'il a usé envers toi.