Yes, there was indeed a man--a man in all the
nobility of manhood, as God made him, an Adam before the Fall.
Ah, if John Hammond had only possessed a quarter of Mr. Smithson's
wealth how gladly would Lesbia have defied the world and married him.
But to defy the world upon nothing a year was out of the question.
'Why didn't he go on the Stock Exchange and make his fortune?' thought
Lesbia, pettishly, 'instead of talking vaguely about politics and
literature.'
She felt angry with her rejected lover for having come to her
empty-handed. She had seen no man in London who was, or who seemed to
her, his equal. And yet she did not repent of having rejected him. The
more she knew of the world and the more she knew of herself the more
deeply was she convinced that poverty was an evil thing, and that she
was not the right kind of person to endure it.
She was inwardly making these comparisons as they strolled back to the
carriage, while Mr. Smithson and Lady Kirkbank talked confidentially at
her side.
'Do you know that Lady Kirkbank has promised and vowed three things for
you?' said Mr.
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