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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Emma by Jane Austen: contemplating the letter. For a little while Emma persevered
in her silence; but beginning to apprehend the bewitching flattery
of that letter might be too powerful, she thought it best to say,
"I lay it down as a general rule, Harriet, that if a woman doubts
as to whether she should accept a man or not, she certainly ought
to refuse him. If she can hesitate as to `Yes,' she ought to say
`No' directly. It is not a state to be safely entered into
with doubtful feelings, with half a heart. I thought it my duty
as a friend, and older than yourself, to say thus much to you.
But do not imagine that I want to influence you."
"Oh! no, I am sure you are a great deal too kind to--but if you
Emma |
