AMELIA. He said--he would not marry me without your consent for the
world.

BARON [starting from his chair]. And pray, how came this the subject
of your conversation?

AMELIA [rising]. _I_ brought it up.

BARON. And what did you say?

AMELIA. I said that birth and fortune were such old-fashioned things
to me, I cared nothing about either: and that I had once heard my
father declare, he should consult my happiness in marrying me, beyond
any other consideration.

BARON. I will once more repeat to you my sentiments. It is the custom
in this country for the children of nobility to marry only with their
equals; but as my daughter's content is more dear to me than an ancient
custom, I would bestow you on the first man I thought calculated to
make you happy: by this I do not mean to say that I should not be
severely nice in the character of the man to whom I gave you; and Mr.
Anhalt, from his obligations to me, and his high sense of honour,
thinks too nobly--

AMELIA. Would it not be noble to make the daughter of his benefactor
happy?

BARON. But when that daughter is a child, and thinks like a child----

AMELIA. No, indeed, papa, I begin to think very like a woman. Ask