'Mr Haredale,' said Edward, 'your arm encircles her on whom I have set
my every hope and thought, and to purchase one minute's happiness for
whom I would gladly lay down my life; this house is the casket that
holds the precious jewel of my existence. Your niece has plighted her
faith to me, and I have plighted mine to her. What have I done that
you should hold me in this light esteem, and give me these discourteous
words?'
'You have done that, sir,' answered Mr Haredale, 'which must be undone.
You have tied a lover'-knot here which must be cut asunder. Take good
heed of what I say. Must. I cancel the bond between ye. I reject you,
and all of your kith and kin--all the false, hollow, heartless stock.'
'High words, sir,' said Edward, scornfully.
'Words of purpose and meaning, as you will find,' replied the other.
'Lay them to heart.'
'Lay you then, these,' said Edward. 'Your cold and sullen temper, which
chills every breast about you, which turns affection into fear, and
changes duty into dread, has forced us on this secret course, repugnant
to our nature and our wish, and far more foreign, sir, to us than you.
I am not a false, a hollow, or a heartless man; the character is yours,
who poorly venture on these injurious terms, against the truth, and
under the shelter whereof I reminded you just now.
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