How we cite our quotes:
Quote #1
“Her name is Rachel, and she was charming and gay, and they said she could have her pick of any man in her father’s regiment. But instead she fell in love with a Puritan and ran away to America without her father’s blessing. She wrote to my mother from Wethersfield, and she has written a letter to me every year of my life.” (2.24)
The marriage between Rachel and her husband was based, as Kit tells us, on love above all else. Rachel defied the wishes of her father to be with Matthew.
Quote #2
“I had to come, Mercy. There was another reason. I couldn’t say it this morning, but there was a man of the island, a friend of grandfather’s. He used to come often, and afterwards I found he had lent Grandfather money, hundreds of pounds. He didn’t want the money back – he wanted me to marry him. He tried to make me think that Grandfather had wanted it, but I’m sure that was not so. He wanted to pay everything. He would even have kept the house for us to live in. Everyone expected me to marry him. The women kept telling me what a wonderful match it was.” (4.77)
Here Kit reveals to Mercy that one of the reasons she left Barbados was that a man of her grandfather’s acquaintance had tried to coerce her into marrying him. For Kit, marriage is not purely an economic arrangement.
Quote #3
“William said he was starting to build his house, didn’t he? What more could you want him to say?” (7.32)
In this exchange with Judith, Kit learns that by simply mentioning his house, William is expressing his intentions of marrying her. Kit’s ideas about marriage, though, are quite different. She believes they should have something in common – and be able to hold a conversation (which they, of course, can’t).