You had
better take pity on Smithson.'
Lesbia laughed. That idea of a possible peerage elevated Smithson in her
eyes. She knew nothing of his political career, as she lived in a set
which ignored politics altogether. Mr. Smithson had never talked to her
of his parliamentary duties; and it was a new thing for her to hear that
he had some kind of influence in public affairs.
'Suppose I were inclined to accept him, would you like him as a
brother-in-law?' she asked lightly. 'I thought from your manner last
night that you rather disliked him.'
'I don't quite like him or any of his breed, the newly rich, who go
about in society swelling with the sense of their own importance,
perspiring gold, as it were. And one has always a faint suspicion of men
who have got rich very quickly, an idea that there must be some kind of
juggling. Not in the case of a great contractor, perhaps, who can point
to a viaduct and docks and railways, and say, "I built that, and that,
and that. These are the sources of my wealth." But a man who gets
enormously rich by mere ciphering! Where can his money come from, except
out of other people's pockets? I know nothing against your Mr.
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