The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders

'Alas, says the old lady, 'that poor girl! I am afraid she will never

be well.' 'Well!' says the elder brother, 'how should Mrs. Betty be well? They

say she is in love.' 'I believe nothing of it,' says the old gentlewoman.

'I don't know,' says the eldest sister, 'what to say to it; they have

made such a rout about her being so handsome, and so charming, and I

know not what, and that in her hearing too, that has turned the

creature's head, I believe, and who knows what possessions may follow

such doings? For my part, I don't know what to make of it.' 'Why, sister, you must acknowledge she is very handsome,' says the

elder brother.

'Ay, and a great deal handsomer than you, sister,' says Robin, 'and

that's your mortification.' 'Well, well, that is not the question,' says his sister; 'that girl is

well enough, and she knows it well enough; she need not be told of it

to make her vain.' 'We are not talking of her being vain,' says the elder brother, 'but of

her being in love; it may be she is in love with herself; it seems my

sisters think so.' 'I would she was in love with me,' says Robin; 'I'd quickly put her out

of her pain.' 'What d'ye mean by that, son,' says the old lady; 'how can you talk so?' 'Why, madam,' says Robin, again, very honestly, 'do you think I'd let

the poor girl die for love, and of one that is near at hand to be had,

too?' 'Fie, brother!', says the second sister, 'how can you talk so? Would

you take a creature that has not a groat in the world?' 'Prithee, child,' says Robin, 'beauty's a portion, and good-humour with

it is a double portion; I wish thou hadst half her stock of both for

thy portion.' So there was her mouth stopped.

'I find,' says the eldest sister, 'if Betty is not in love, my brother

is. I wonder he has not broke his mind to Betty; I warrant she won't

say No.' 'They that yield when they're asked,' says Robin, 'are one step before

them that were never asked to yield, sister, and two steps before them

that yield before they are asked; and that's an answer to you, sister.' This fired the sister, and she flew into a passion, and said, things

were come to that pass that it was time the wench, meaning me, was out

of the family; and but that she was not fit to be turned out, she hoped

her father and mother would consider of it as soon as she could be

removed.