'I should incur my own
heavy censure, did I delay expressing my sincere conviction that I can
never regard you otherwise than as a valued friend. I should do you
the highest injustice did I conceal my sentiments for a moment. I see
I distress you, and I grieve for it, but better now than later; and oh,
better a thousand times, Mr. Waverley, that you should feel a present
momentary disappointment, than the long and heart-sickening griefs which
attend a rash and ill-assorted marriage!'
'Good God!' exclaimed Waverley, 'why should you anticipate such
consequences from a union where birth is equal, where fortune is
favourable, where, if I may venture to say so, the tastes are similar,
where you allege no preference for another, where you even express a
favourable opinion of him whom you reject?'
'Mr. Waverley, I HAVE that favourable opinion,' answered Flora; 'and so
strongly, that though I would rather have been silent on the grounds of
my resolution, you shall command them, if you exact such a mark of my
esteem and confidence.'
She sat down upon a fragment of rock, and Waverley, placing himself near
her, anxiously pressed for the explanation she offered.
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