‘I am not sure how to answer you, Mr Leabrook: there is so little precedent. When a man asks a woman to marry him, it is I believe usual to begin with an expression of gratitude for the offer, whether she means to accept or decline. When a man simply declares that he is in love with a woman, there is similarly I imagine some formula of acknowledgement that may cover the confusion of the moment, whether she returns his sentiments or not. But when a man asks a woman to go off with him and become his mistress for some unspecified time on some unspecified terms, there is as far as I can see no
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