All this, you may be sure, was as I wished, and indeed nothing could have happened more perfectly agreeable. I carried it on as far as this with a sort of indifferency that he often wondered at, more than at first, but which was the only support of his courtship; and I mention it the rather to intimate again to the ladies that nothing but want of courage for such an indifferency makes our sex so cheap, and prepares them to be ill-used as they are; would they venture the loss of a pretending fop now and then, who carries it high upon the point of his own merit, they would certainly be less slighted, and courted more. Had I discovered really and truly what my great fortune was, and that in all I had not full #500 when he expected #1500, yet I had hooked him so fast, and played him so long, that I was satisfied he would have had me in my worst circumstances; and indeed it was less a surprise to him when he learned the truth than it would have been, because having not the least blame to lay on me, who had carried it with an air of indifference to the last, he would not say one word, except that indeed he thought it had been more, but that if it had been less he did not repent his bargain; only that he should not be able to maintain me so well as he intended.
Tout cela, comme vous pouvez bien penser, était justement conforme à mes souhaits, et en vérité rien n'eût pu survenir de plus parfaitement agréable; je continuai jusque-là à jouer cette sorte d'indifférence dont il s'étonnait souvent; et si j'avais avoué sincèrement que ma grande fortune ne s'élevait pas en tout à 400£ quand il en attendait 1 500£, pourtant je suis persuadée que je l'avais si fermement agrippé et si longtemps tenu en haleine, qu'il m'aurait prise sous les pires conditions; et il est hors de doute que la surprise fut moins grande pour lui quand il apprit la vérité qu'elle n'eut été autrement; car n'ayant pas le moindre blâme à jeter sur moi, qui avais gardé un air d'indifférence jusqu'au bout, il ne put dire une parole, sinon qu'en vérité il pensait qu'il y en aurait eu davantage; mais que quand même il y en eût moins, il ne se repentait pas de son affaire, seulement qu'il n'aurait pas le moyen de m'entretenir aussi bien qu'il l'eût désiré.