Wehaveall，atonetimeoranotherinourlives，beenperplexedasSirPatrickwasperplexednow。
Ifweknowanythingbyexperience，weknowthatwomencastthemselvesawayimpulsivelyonunworthymen，andthatmenruinthemselvesheadlongforunworthywomen。WehavetheinstitutionofDivorceactuallyamongus，existingmainlybecausethetwosexesareperpetuallyplacingthemselvesintheseanomalousrelationstowardeachother。Andyet，ateveryfreshinstancewhichcomesbeforeus，wepersistinbeingastonishedtofindthatthemanandthewomanhavenotchoseneachotheronrationalandproduciblegrounds!Weexpecthumanpassiontoactonlogicalprinciples；andhumanfallibility——withloveforitsguide——tobeabovealldangerofmakingamistake!AskthewisestamongAnneSilvester’ssexwhattheysawtorationallyjustifytheminchoosingthementowhomtheyhavegiventheirheartsandtheirlives，andyouwillbeputtingaquestiontothosewisewomenwhichtheyneveroncethoughtofputtingtothemselves。Nay，morestill。Lookintoyourownexperience，andsayfrankly，Couldyoujustifyyourownexcellentchoiceatthetimewhenyouirrevocablymadeit？Couldyouhaveputyourreasonsonpaperwhenyoufirstownedtoyourselfthatyoulovedhim？Andwouldthereasonshavebornecriticalinspectionifyouhad？
SirPatrickgaveitupindespair。Theinterestsofhisniecewereatstake。Hewiselydeterminedtorousehismindbyoccupyinghimselfwiththepracticalnecessitiesofthemoment。
Itwasessentialtosendanapologytotherector，inthefirstplace，soastoleavetheeveningathisdisposalforconsideringwhatpreliminarycourseofconductheshouldadviseArnoldtopursue。
AfterwritingafewlinesofapologytohispartneratPiquet——assigningfamilybusinessastheexcuseforbreakinghisengagement——SirPatrickrangthebell。ThefaithfulDuncanappeared，andsawatonceinhismastersfacethatsomethinghadhappened。