ient family, and Bianca, on the other hand, can boast of nothing but
her good name and unsullied character."

"And does not virtue outweigh all worldly titles and distinctions in the
estimation of every rational and virtuous mind? Your lovely daughter's
virtues are far superior to my empty titles or immense wealth. In
accepting me as a husband, she would confer honor, not receive it. She
descends to my level; I do not and cannot rise to hers--the gain, the
honor, the advantage, of such an alliance would be mine."

"You are an enthusiast, Count; your passion has gotten the better of
your judgment; that you love my daughter _now_ I am perfectly willing to
admit, but that your affection for her will sustain the shock of the
ridicule of your associates, or the contempt and neglect with which your
proud and titled kindred and countrymen will treat such a wife, whom
they regard so infinitely beneath them, I very much doubt. Matches
between people so widely separated by difference of rank, however
arbitrary and absurd those distinctions may be, can never produce aught
but unhappiness."

The Count was, notwithstanding the reasonableness of old Morelli's
objections, as politely obstinate as young lovers are to old fathers,
when those old fathers condescend to reason with them instead of
resorting to the more usual and summary process of turning them out of
doors, and forbidding their daughters to hold any farther communication
with the dear rejected. In a subsequent conversation with his daughter
he found that both parties were nearly in the same situation; Bianca
with many tears confessing her love for Count Altenberg. There seemed
then but two chances to escape from this state of embarrassment, namely,
either to consent to Frederic's offer of his hand, or to send his
daughter to an aged relative at Padua; which last plan was liable to so
many objections that, after ruminating upon it for two days, he gave it
up, and permitted the lovers to enjoy each other's society, though
without giving a direct consent to their union.

In the mean time the libertine Plindorf was plotting destruction to the
fair Bianca. He well knew that such a woman was not to be carried by the
usual attacks of flattery and money; which last, whether administered in
the form of rich and dazzling presents, or simply by itself, is almost
uniformly found irresistible by old and young women, according to their
tastes or situations; his plan was therefore nec