Mrs. Melford did not fail to communicate to her husband the conversation she had had with Louisa, relative to their proposed plan of marrying her to their nephew, and also the objections Louisa had made; objections, which, she said, she had no doubt but they should overcome, as young girls like her seldom know their own mind.

Mr. Melford expressed much dissatisfaction that the proposals made should have been objected to: he said the girl must be mad if she persisted in her refusal of such advantageous offers, and as she/ was completely in his power, he should treat her as such, if she did not comply with their wishes, which were as much for her benefit as their own satisfaction.

Mrs. Melford undertook to win her to compliance, as she had great confidence in her own powers of eloquence and persuasion, and also great reliance on the obliging and gentle nature of Louisa, whom she had found always ready to give up any point to gratify the desire of another, even if it were disagreeable to herself.

But in an affair of so much importance, Louisa was immovably fixed in her own opinion: neither the eloquence, persuasions, entreaties, or threats of Mrs. Melford had power to move her: she was therefore compelled to give up the task she had engaged to perform ‘to abler hands,’ as she expressed it.

But neither the soft speeches of the all-accomplished Mr. Frank Melford,/ or the more austere reproofs of his father, succeeded better. Louisa gave her reasons for declining the honour they intended her, in a firm and dispassionate manner.