“ Mr. Willoughby, you ought to feel, and I certainly do , that after what has passed, your coming here in this manner, and forcing yourself upon my notice, requires a very particular excuse. What is it, that you mean by it?”

“I mean,” said he, with serious energy, “if I can, to make you hate me one degree less than you do now . I mean to offer some kind of explanation, some kind of apology, for the past; to open my whole heart to you, and by convincing you, that though I have been always a blockhead, I have not been always a rascal, to obtain something like forgiveness from Ma⁠—from your sister.”

“Is this the real reason of your coming?”