HALLAM: I have cared for you for six months. I have watched you sleeping, held your hand when you cried, longed to hold you in my arms.

MEL: And what else have you done while I’ve been too spaced out to notice, I wonder?

HALLAM: What do you mean?

MEL: I mean, are you the sort of man who takes advantage of a woman while she’s too ill or too steeped in laudanum to protest? How could I possibly think of marrying you with that in the back of my mind?

HALLAM: I think you will find it wise to accept my offer, Nell.

MEL: No doubt. But I don’t love you, and I don’t plan on staying at Hallam Hall now that I’m well again.

HALLAM: You will find it difficult to leave Hallam Hall now, if you wish to preserve your honour.

MEL: Now you’re reduced to threatening a woman. And I thought you were a compassionate benefactor. How wrong I was.