and yet she thought that in this he would be unjust. Had she been
called upon to sing the praises of her father she would have
insisted above all things on the absolute integrity of his mind,
and yet, knowing as she did that he would be opposed to her
marriage with Mr Tregear, she assured herself every day and every
hour that he had no right to make any such objection. The man she
loved was a gentleman, and an honest man, by no means a fool, and
subject to no vices. Her father had no right to demand that she
should give her heart to a rich man, or to one of high rank. Rank!
As for rank, she told herself that she had the most supreme
contempt for it. She thought that she had seen it near enough
already to be sure that it ought to have no special allurements.
What was it doing for her? Simply restraining her choice among
comparatively a few who seemed to her by no means best endowed of
God's creatures.

Of one thing she was very sure, that under no pressure whatsoever
would she abandon her engagement to Mr Tregear. That to her had
become a bond almost as holy as matrimony itself could be. She had
told the man that she loved him, and after that there could be no
retreat. He had kissed her, and she had returned his caress. He
had told her that she was his, as his arm was round her; and she
had acknowledged that it was so, that she belonged to him, and
could not be taken away from him. All this was to her a compact so
sacred that nothing could break it but a desire on his part to
have it annulled. No other man had an idea entered into her mind
that it could be pleasant to join her lot in life with his. With
her it had been all new and all sacred. Love with her had that
religion which nothing but freshness can give it. That freshness,
that bloom, may last through a long life. But every change impairs