And now Lady Kirkbank told Lesbia that this Mr. Smithson, a nobody with
a great fortune, was a man whose addresses she, the sister of Lord
Maulevrier, ought to welcome. Mr. Smithson, who claimed to be a lineal
descendant of that Sir Michael Carrington, standard-bearer to Coeur de
Lion in the Holy Land, whose descendants changed their name to Smith
during the Wars of the Roses. Mr. Smithson bodily proclaimed himself a
scion of this good old county family, and bore on his plate and his
coach panels the elephant's head and the three demi-griffins of the
Hertfordshire Smiths, who only smiled and shrugged their shoulders when
they were complimented upon the splendid surroundings of their cousin.
Who could tell? Some lateral branch of the standard-bearer's family tree
might have borne this illustrious twig.
Lady Kirkbank and all Lady Kirkbank's friends seemed to have conspired
to teach Lesbia Haselden one lesson, and that lesson meant that money
was the first prize in the great game of life. Money ranked before
everything--before titles, before noble lineage, genius, fame, beauty,
courage, honour.
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