"I don't see what Madame Merle has to do with it. Why did you apply to Madame Merle?"
"I asked her for an opinion—for nothing more. I did so because she had seemed to me to know you very well."
"She doesn't know me so well as she thinks," said Osmond.
"I'm sorry for that, because she has given me some little ground for hope."
Osmond stared into the fire a moment. "I set a great price on my daughter."
"You can't set a higher one than I do. Don't I prove it by wishing to marry her?"