] Scene 1: A garden.
] William: I love you more than life itself! Wealth is of no consequence for a love such as ours! Will you be my bride?
] Margaret: Yeah, sure thing.
] William: I shall apply to your father directly!

] Scene 2: A study
] William: I wish to ask your permission for your daughter Margaret's hand in marriage.
] Sir Charles: Gladly! I will settle three thousand pounds on her.
] William: Three?! I hear Mary King's worth ten. I'm out of here.

] Scene 3: A drawing room
] William: Alas, my love, it cannot be - your father has refused his permission. Remember me with tenderness - we shall never meet again.
] (He exits, as if persued by a bear.)
] (Enter Sir Charles.)
] Sir Charles: He wanted ten thousand pounds.
] Margaret: Drat. Time to pull off a bank job.

That is why getting engaged was such a serious business. A man could not break the engagement unless there was a strong objection to the lady's character. A young man who pledged his troth to a young lady without first knowing the general parameters of her settlement would be stuck with her unless she released him from the engagement. If he took off the way you are describing, he could be sued for breach of promise.