We are without Peggy’s own account of her courtship, but according to family tradition, as well as what we know of her future behavior, she was exceedingly high-strung (one friend described her as having “great sensibility”). At some point her father apparently responded to Arnold’s entreaties with an outright refusal. This seems to have triggered one of the histrionic displays of emotion for which Peggy later became well known and ultimately led, according to one account, to her father “reluctantly” giving his consent.
