"Dear aunt, you must excuse me if I say that I cannot discuss George Vavasor's mode of life. If I were thinking of becoming his wife you would have a perfect right to discuss it, because of your constant kindness to me. But as matters are he is simply a cousin; and as I like him and you do not, we had better say nothing about him."
"I must say this--that after what has passed, and at the present crisis of your life--"
"Dear aunt, I'm not in any crisis."
"Yes you are, Alice; in the most special crisis of a girl's life. You are still a girl, but you are the promised wife of a very worthy man, who will look to you for all his domestic happiness. George Vavasor has the name, at least, of being very wild."
"The worthy man and the wild man must fight it out between them. If I were going away with George by himself, there might be something in what you say."

"Dear aunt, I cannot discuss George Vavasor's mode of life. If I were thinking of becoming his wife you would have a perfect right to discuss it. But he is simply a cousin; and as I like him and you do not, we had better say nothing about him."
"I must say this - that after what has passed, and at the present crisis of your life-"
"Dear aunt, I'm not in any crisis."
"Yes, you are, Alice; in the most special crisis of a girl's life. You are the promised wife of a worthy man. George Vavasor has the reputation of being very wild."
"The worthy man and the wild man must fight it out between them. If I were going away with George by himself, there might be something in what you say."
