A well-bred woman fell in love young with someone who was considered inappropriate for her. She gave herself to her love, but her family pushes her into courtship with another suitor, pressured by his greater wealth. He traps her by putting financial pressure on her family by gambling with her male relatives in what he knows is for them a losing game.
I really like the idea of a suitor who's been in love with her from the start, but who doesn't know how to convince her to love him back and in return is forced to pressure her into a forced hand. He keeps himself detached as he pursues her, her lack of interest making him cold and bitter.
And then when she's finally "all his", after all he's done to try to force her to be his, she hates him. He's alienated himself through his treatment of her. Whether in the future he shows her tenderness or the same, bitter brutality as before, she's lost to him forever.
This is how I like to imagine the story.
A well-bred woman fell in love young with someone who was considered inappropriate for her. She gave herself to her love, but her family pushes her into courtship with another suitor, pressured by his greater wealth. He traps her by putting financial pressure on her family by gambling with her male relatives in what he knows is for them a losing game.
I really like the idea of a suitor who's been in love with her from the start, but who doesn't know how to convince her to love him back and in return is forced to pressure her into a forced hand. He keeps himself detached as he pursues her, her lack of interest making him cold and bitter.
And then when she's finally "all his", after all he's done to try to force her to be his, she hates him. He's alienated himself through his treatment of her. Whether in the future he shows her tenderness or the same, bitter brutality as before, she's lost to him forever.