Chapter 17
The being finished speaking and fixed his looks upon me in the
expectation of a reply. But I was bewildered, perplexed, and unable
to arrange my ideas sufficiently to understand the full extent of
his proposition. He continued,
"You must create a female for me with whom I can live in the
interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. This you
alone can do, and I demand it of you as a right which you must not
refuse to concede."
The latter part of his tale had kindled anew in me the anger
that had died away while he narrated his peaceful life among the
cottagers, and as he said this I could no longer suppress the rage
that burned within me.
"I do refuse it," I replied; "and no t*****e shall ever extort a
consent from me. You may render me the most miserable
