Title and lofty
lineage were indispensable. It would be a fall, a failure, a
disappointment, were she to marry a commoner, however distinguished.
The worthy one must be noble, therefore, and of the old nobility. He
must be young, handsome, intellectual. He must stand out from among his
peers by his gifts of mind and person. He must have won distinction in
the arena of politics or diplomacy, arms or letters. He must be
'somebody.'
She had been seven weeks in society, and this modern Arthur had not
appeared. So far as she had been able to discover, there was no such
person. The dukes and marquises were mostly men of advanced years. The
young unmarried nobility were given over to sport, play, and
foolishness. She had heard of only one man who at all corresponded with
her ideal, and he was Lord Hartfield. But Lord Hartfield had given
himself up to politics, and was no doubt a prig. Lady Kirkbank spoke of
him with contempt, as an intolerable person. But then Lord Hartfield was
not in Lady Kirkbank's set. He belonged to that serious circle to which
Lady Kirkbank's house appeared about as reputable a place of gathering
as a booth on a race-course.
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