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... Was not she the whole day with you?"
"Come," said she, "I will tell you something, in return for what you have told me. He did speak yesterday--that is, he wrote, and was refused."
This was obliged to be repeated before it could be believed; and Mr. Knightley actually looked red with surprize and displeasure, as he stood up, in tall indignation, and said,
"Then she is a greater simpleton than I ever believed her. What is the foolish girl about?"
"Oh! to be sure," cried Emma, It is always incomprehensible to a man that a woman should ever refuse an offer of marriage. A man always imagines a woman to be ready for any body who asks her."
"Nonsense! a man does not imagine any such thing. But what is the meaning of this? Harriet Smith refuse Robert Martin? madness, if it is so; but I hope you are mistaken."
"I saw her answer!--nothing could be clearer."
"You saw her answer!--you wrote her answer too. Emma, this is your doing. You persuaded her to refuse him."
"And if I did, (which, however, I am far from allowing) I should not feel that I... Austen, Jane

Excerpt from Emma · This quote is about marriage · Search on Google Books to find all references and sources for this quotation.

A bit about Austen, Jane ...

Jane Austen (December 16, 1775 July 18, 1817) was a prominent English novelist whose work is considered part of the Western canon. Her insights into women's lives and her mastery of form and irony made her arguably the most noted and influential novelist of her era.