ade use of every argument that love and wit
could inspire, to prevail with her to accept of the offer contained in
the letter he had wrote to her; and concluded with reminding her, that
if the charming confession her answer had made him was to be depended
on, and that she had indeed a heart not wholly uninfluenced by his
passion, she would not refuse agreeing to a proposal, which not the most
rigid virtue and honour could disapprove.

Louisa on this replied with blushes, that since, by the belief she
should never see him more, she had been unwarily drawn in to declare
herself so far, she neither could, nor would attempt to deny what she
had said; but, added she, it is perhaps, by being too much influenced by
your merits, that I find myself obliged to refuse what you require of
me:--I cannot think, cried she, of rendering unhappy a person who so
much deserves to be blessed:--and what but misery would attend a match
so unequal as yours would be with me!--How would your kindred brook
it!--How would the world confuse and ridicule the fondness of an
affection so ill placed!--What would they say when they should hear the
nobly born, the rich, and the accomplished monsieur du Plessis, had
taken for his wife a maid obscurely defended, and with no other dowry
than her virtue!--My very affection for you would, in the general
opinion, lose all its merit, and pass for sordid interest:--I should be
looked upon as the bane of your glory;--as one whose artifices had
ensnared you into a forgetfulness of what you owed to yourself and
family, and be despised and hated by all who have a regard for
you.--This, monsieur, continued she, is what I cannot bear, neither for
your sake nor my own, and entreat you will no farther urge a suit, which
all manner of considerations forbid me to comply with.

The firmness and resolution with which she uttered these words, threw
him into the most violent despair; and here might be seen the difference
between a sincere and counterfeited passion: the one is timid, fearful
of offending, and modest even to its own loss;--the other presuming,
bold, and regardless of the consequences, presses, in spight of
opposition, to its desired point.

Louisa had too much penetration not to make this distinction: she saw
the truth of his affection in his grief, and that awe which deterred him
from expressing what he felt:--she sympathized in all his pains, and for
every sigh his oppressed heart sent forth, her own wept