“I am well aware of your motives, mother,” said Perdita. “In a word,” she added, with a strange mixture of pride and irony, “you considered my beauty to be more marketable in London than in New South Wales. And after all that you have told me of the English people and England’s capital, I am inclined to believe that you have not misled me. But supposing that I contract some splendid marriage in London--that I find my way into the highest circles--and that I become the _belle_ of the great city,--will there not be the constant risk--the ever imminent chance of falling in with the officers of some of those regiments which have returned from Sydney or Botany Bay----” “I see now that you scarcely understand me--that we do not altogether comprehend each other!” interrupted the old woman, impatiently. “There is no need for you to count only on the chance of making a good match: ’tis indeed far more probable that you may ensnare some young gentleman of birth, family, and fortune,--or some old voluptuary of immense wealth,--and there is more to be gained as the mistress of one of these, than as a wife. Do not marry, Perdita--do not dream of marriage: remain independent--and the moment you have ruined one lover, you can take another. There--that is plain speaking; and now do you comprehend me?” “Perfectly,” answered the young woman: then, under the influence of the wanton thoughts which rushed to her imagination, she said, “Yes--I comprehend you, and I confess that your views now become more suitable to mine. I could not chain myself to one individual, with any hope of being faithful to him:--_love_ is a passion which will never obtain over me that influence which it so often exercises over the weak, the simple-minded, or the infatuated.” “Be not too confident on that point, Perdita,” said the old woman. “In Sydney and Botany Bay your amours were only the result of a warm temperament;--for carefully as I watched over you----” “Now, mother, let us have no moral teachings from your lips!” exclaimed the young woman, in an imperious and authoritative tone; “for had you been so very immaculate yourself, I should never have beheld the light of day, neither would you have passed some eighteen or nineteen years of your life in a penal colony. And such a colony as it is! Why--let a pretty girl be hemmed in by all the precautions which a parent can imagine, circumstances must inevitably lead her astray in South Australia! And you,--_you_, who know all this so well,--can you wonder if I were seduced at the early age of thirteen, and if from that period until your pardon arrived and we embarked to return home, I have not failed to indulge my fancy without hesitation? On the one side I obeyed your instructions,--I accepted no offer of marriage, and lived with no man permanently as his mistress: but, on the other, I hesitated not to intrigue with the gayest and most dashing officers----”