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.
Egli sa troppo bene qual sia il tuo vero scopo per prestare giammai il suo assenso ad un partito di tanto tuo scapito; non capisco nemmeno come tu possa pensar tuttavia a cose di simil natura dopo il discorso di tuo padre, e dopo sì tenere ed amorose espressioni che adoperò teco; perchè io so qual discorso ti ha tenuto. Figliuolo caro, se vuoi rovinarti da te medesimo, non sarò io quella che t’aiuti a farlo; sta pur sicuro che l’assenso de’ tuoi genitori non l’otterrai in eterno.