, dear Ned, or like the excessive anxiety, and
devotion, and all that sort of thing, of a parent, you shall determine for
yourself.«
    »I wish you to consider, sir,« said Edward, »in what a cruel situation I am
placed. Loving Miss Haredale as I do -«
    »My dear fellow,« interrupted his father with a compassionate smile, »you do
nothing of the kind. You don't know anything about it. There's no such thing, I
assure you. Now, do take my word for it. You have good sense, Ned, - great good
sense. I wonder you should be guilty of such amazing absurdities. You really
surprise me.«
    »I repeat,« said his son firmly, »that I love her. You have interposed to
part us, and have, to the extent I have just now told you of, succeeded. May I
induce you, sir, in time, to think more favourably of our attachment, or is it
your intention and your fixed design to hold us asunder if you can?«
    »My dear Ned,« returned his father, taking a pinch of snuff and pushing his
box towards him, »that is my purpose most undoubtedly.«
    »The time that has elapsed,« rejoined his son, »since I began to know her
worth, has flown in such a dream that until now I have hardly once paused to
reflect upon my true position. What is it? From my childhood I have been
accustomed to luxury and idleness, and have been bred as though my fortune were
large, and my expectations almost without a limit. The idea of wealth has been
familiarised to me from my cradle. I have been taught to look upon those means,
by which men raise themselves to riches and distinction, as being beyond my
breeding, and beneath my care. I have been, as the phrase is, liberally
educated, and am fit for nothing. I find myself at last wholly dependent upon
you, with no resource but in your favour. In this momentous question of my life
we do not, and it would seem we never can, agree. I have shrunk instinctively
alike from those to whom you have urged me to pay court, and from the motives of
interest and gain which have rendered them in your eyes visible objects for my
suit. If there never has been thus much plain-speaking between us before, sir,
the fault has not been mine, indeed. If I seem to speak too plainly now, it is