who, from their fortune, birth, and character, might be deemed the most
desirable matches, would shun alliances with the daughters of women of
tainted reputation."

Godfrey eagerly declared his contempt for those men who married for money
or ambition either illegitimate or legitimate daughters. He should be
sorry, he said, to do any thing that would countenance vice, which ought
to be put out of countenance by all means--if possible. But he was not the
guardian of public morals; and even if he were, he should still think it
unjust that the innocent should suffer for the guilty. That for his own
part, if he could put his father's disapprobation out of the question,
he should easily settle his mind, and overcome all objections in a
_prudential_ point of view to marrying an amiable woman who had had the
misfortune to have a worthless mother.

Mrs. Percy had not yet given her opinion--all eyes turned towards her. As
usual, she spoke with persuasive gentleness and good sense; she marked
where each had, in the warmth of argument, said more than they intended,
and she seized the just medium by which all might be conciliated. She
said that she thought the important point to be considered was, what the
_education_ of the daughter had been; on this a prudent man would form his
opinion, not on the mere accident of her birth. He would inquire whether
the girl had lived with the ill-conducted mother--had been in situations
to be influenced by her example, or by that of the company which she kept.
If such had been the case, Mrs. Percy declared she thought it would be
imprudent and wrong to marry the daughter. But if the daughter had been
separated in early childhood from the mother, had never been exposed to the
influence of her example, had, on the contrary, been educated carefully
in strict moral and religious principles, it would be cruel, because
unnecessary, to object to an alliance with such a woman. The objection