Spartan firmness; for, as Amy was really another's, I had only to make a virtue of necessity, and nip my love in the bud with the best grace I might.
"Poor thing!" again sighed my sister; "no wonder she looked so sad; and, when she might be so happy, it seems hard to refuse to help her. But would it be acting right towards her parents?" I think that Nelly in her secret heart was rejoiced at the very prospect of assisting in an elopement; but I suppose she considered it proper morality to make an objection.
"Her parents!" I answered hotly (and I don't wish to defend what I said; I only record it because I said it); "her parents, indeed! Have they acted right towards her? Did that dragon father of hers care more about uniting her, or the estates? Has n't he set title-deeds and dowries in the place of love and affection? Has n't he proudly placed his own family aggrandisement as superior to his child's happiness? Does n't he look upon her wedding-ring merely as a symbol of a ring-fence? Does n't he want to make the holy estate of matrimony an estate of broad acres, and to sink love in the land-tax? Is marriage only a matter for lawyers? Can you write on hearts like parchment, and endorse them like bills, to be made payable at sight to any one you please, changing 'I love you' into an I O U? Must poor Amy be a 'puppet to a father's threat?' as Tennyson says."
"Dear me," said Nelly, whose breath was almost taken away by my impetuosity; "you treat me to quite a little homily."
"Why, suppose," I continued, "that you were placed in a similar position with regard to Fred." (my sister was engaged to Fred. Temple, so I knew that this was
