Nature could not have held out against such powerful attacks, had
not the pride and caprice of his disposition been gratified to the
full in the triumph of his resistance; he looked upon the contest
as altogether original, and persevered with obstinacy, because he
thought himself sure of favourable terms, whenever he should be
disposed to capitulate. Perhaps he might have overshot himself in
the course of his perseverance. A young lady of Emilia's fortune
and attractions could not fail to find herself surrounded by
temptations, which few women can resist. She might have misinterpreted
the meaning of some paragraph or taken umbrage at an unguarded
expression in one of Peregrine's letters. She might have been tired
out by his obstinate peculiarity, or, at the long run, construed
it into madness, slight, or indifference; or, rather than waste her
prime in fruitless endeavours to subdue the pride of a headstrong
humourist, she might have listened to the voice of some admirer,
fraught with qualifications sufficient to engage her esteem and
affection.
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