“I don't know what you want from me then,' she cried, casting out her arms. 'For I cannot make my situation any different. I must marry. And so far, I have no promises.'
He would not look at her.
'Ask me then,' she said, voice raw, 'ask me if I should like, if I should want to marry Pemberton, were the choice only about me?'
He looked up. 'Would you?'
'No,' she said, voice cracking. 'Now ask me, whether I should still love you, were the choice only mine to make?'
He took a step forward. 'Would you?' he said again.
'Yes,' she confessed. 'I will always choose my sisters. I will choose their need more than my want every day. But I want you just as much as I need money. You see me, in my entirety - the worst and the best of me - as no one else ever has.”