I don't see why a maid should take a husband when she's bold enough to fight her own battles,

Do I realize solemnly enough how utterly and irretrievably this little womanly thing is the creature of my good or bad faith and fortune? I think not. I think I could not, unless I were a woman myself. What I am in worldly estate, she is. What I become, she must become. What I cannot be, she cannot be. And shall I ever neglect her, or hurt her, or even forget to consider her? God forbid such a crime!

Perhaps you are making a cat's paw of me with Phillotson all this time. Upon my word it almost seems so — to see you sitting up there so prim.