d Alonzo, quitting him; go sir, you are unworthy of my anger.
Pursue thy grovelling schemes. Strive to force to your arms a lady who
abhors you, and were it not on one account, must ever continue to
despise and hate you."

"Alonzo, replied Beauman, I perceive thou knowest me not. You and I were
rivals in our pursuit--the hand of Melissa. Whether from freak or
fortune, the preference was given to you, and I retired in silence. From
coincidence of circumstances, her father has now been induced to give
the preference to me. My belief was, that Melissa would comply with her
father's will, especially after her prospects of connecting with you
were cut off by the events which ruined your fortune. You, Alonzo, have
yet, I find, to learn the character of women. It has been my particular
study. Melissa, now ardently impassioned by first impressions, irritated
by recent disappointment, her passions delicate and vivid, her
affections animated and unmixed, it would be strange, if she could
suddenly relinquish primitive attachments founded on such premises,
without a struggle. But remove her from your presence for one year, with
only distant and uncertain prospects of seeing you again, admit me as
the substitute in your absence, and she accepts my hand as freely as she
would now receive yours. I had no design--it was never my wish to marry
her without her consent. That I believe I shall yet obtain. Under
existing circumstances, it is impossible but that you must be separated
for some considerable time. Then, when cool deliberation succeeds to the
wild vagaries, the electric fire of frolic fancy, she will discover the
dangerous precipice, the deadly abyss to which her present conduct and
inclinations lead. She will see that the blandishments, without the
possessions of life, must fade and die. She will discriminate between
the shreds and the trappings of taste. She will prefer indifference and
splendour to love and a cottage.

"At present I relinquish all further persuit; to-morrow I return to
New-London. When Melissa, from calm deliberation and the advice of
friends, shall freely consent to yield me her hand, I shall return to
receive it. I came from my lodgings this evening to declare these
intentions to her father: but it being later than I was aware of, the
family had gone to rest. I was about to return, when I saw a light from
the chamber window, which soon withdrew. I stood a moment by the garden
wall, when you approached and