The Moonstone Marriage Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Collins doesn't use traditional chapters in The Moonstone, so the citations are a little trickier than in other Victorian novels. Citations follow this format: (Period.Narrative.Chapter.Paragraph).

Quote #10

'I wasn't good enough for the Herncastles, when I married. And, now it comes to the pinch, my son isn't good enough for you. I suspected it, all along. You have got the Herncastle blood in you, my young lady! I suspected it all along.' (2.1.8.61)

Mr. Ablewhite thinks that Rachel doesn't want to marry Godfrey because she's too proud to marry a family that isn't as aristocratic as her own. Her mother's family, the Herncastles, is a very old, wealthy family. And back when Mr. Ablewhite married his wife (Rachel's mother's sister), the Herncastle family didn't really approve of the match. Mr. Ablewhite apparently never really got over his insecurity about the relative social level of the Herncastles and the Ablewhites, because now he suspects that Rachel won't marry Godfrey for the same reason.