fear it will be death to tear them away. As you have caused me to love, is
it demanding more than justice that I should ask you to at least _try_ to
love me in return?"

"Mr. Durant, you know that your accusations are untrue. Did you not just
tell me that you loved before you ever spoke to me on the subject? and have
you not repeatedly, aye, a hundred times, told me I was cold toward you,
ever evincing a want of cordiality? How, then, can you have the face to ask
a return of love on this score? Since you have been at such pains to make
out so contradictory a case, I will say that you but lessen yourself in my
esteem by the attempt!"

"I see, alas, you are a heartless coquette!"

"Because I will not place the half of my father's wealth in your
possession. I have read your motive from the beginning, sir, and have only
refrained from telling you my mind, because I make it a rule to have the
good will of a dog, in preference to his ill will, when I can. But as your
conduct to-day has removed the last thin screen from your real character,
and revealed your naked depravity of heart, I care not even for your
friendship. You know, you _feel_, that you are a degraded wretch, and that
you are unworthy of the society of the virtuous."

"Madam, those words just spoken have sealed your fate! Dog as I am, I have
the power to work your ruin, and _I will do it_! I go from your presence a
bitter and unrelenting foe! The love you have rejected has turned into
bitterness, and the dregs of that bitterness you shall drink till your soul
sickens unto death! I will never lose sight of you! Go where you may, I
will follow you! Hide in what corner of the world you may, I will find you!
When you meet me, remember I am an implacable enemy, seeking revenge!"