Page:The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (emended first edition), Volume 1.djvu/285

Rh suitors; for you can boast a good family, a pretty considerable fortune and expectations, and, I may as well tell you likewise—for if I don't others will—that you have a fair share of beauty, besides—and I hope you may never have cause to regret it!—"

"I hope not, aunt; but why should you fear it?"

"Because, my dear, beauty is that quality which, next to money, is generally the most attractive to the worst kinds of men; and, therefore, it is likely to entail a great deal of trouble on the possessor."

"Have you been troubled in that way, aunt?"

"No, Helen," said she, with reproachful gravity, "but I know many that have; and some, through carelessness, have been the wretched victims of deceit; and some, through weakness, have fallen into snares and temptations terrible to relate."

"Well, I shall be neither careless nor weak."

"Remember Peter, Helen! Don't boast, but