The Decay of the Angel - Yukio Mishima

It was an equivocal response. Honda wanted to
meet the girl.
It was clear that the proposal had taken Honda’s
wealth into account. Only that could explain the
eagerness for an eighteen-year-old bridegroom,
however talented he might be. The tempting object
must be snatched up before someone else saw its
possibilities.
Honda was perfectly aware of all this. And if he
were to accept the proposal, the obvious reason
would be to control the urges of a difficult eighteenyear-old.
But Tōru here before him seemed quite
under control already. So the interests of the two
parties were more and more divergent, and Honda
saw no reason at all to pursue the talks. He felt a
certain curiosity about the contrast between the
parents and the beautiful candidate herself. He
wanted to see greedy self-respect give way. The
family that made the proposal was of much
prominence, but such considerations no longer
troubled Honda.
A dinner party was proposed at which Tōru and the
girl would be present. Honda declined. Instead he and
the person who had brought the proposal had dinner
with the girl’s family.