Money was Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
Mr. Smithson, whose antecedents were as cloudy as those of Aphrodite,
was a greater man than a peer whose broad acres only brought him two per
cent., or half of whose farms were tenantless, and his fields growing
cockle instead of barley.
Yes, one by one, Lady Lesbia's illusions were reft from her. A year ago
she had fancied beauty all-powerful, a gift which must ensure to its
possessor dominion over all the kingdoms of the earth. Rank, intellect,
fame would bow down before that magical diadem. And, behold, she had
been shining upon London society for seven weeks, and only empty heads
and empty pockets had bowed down--the frivolous, the ineligible,--and
Mr. Smithson.
Another illusion which had been dispelled was Lesbia's comfortable idea
of her own expectations. Her grandmother had told her that she might
take rank among heiresses; and she had held herself accordingly, deeming
that her place was among the wealthiest. And now, since Mr. Smithson's
appearance upon the scene, Lady Kirkbank had informed her young friend
with noble candour that Lady Maulevrier's fortune, however large it
might seem at Grasmere, would be a poor thing in London; and that Lady
Maulevrier's ideas about money were as old-fashioned as her notions
about morals.
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