Everybody
had agreed in assuring her that Mr. Smithson was inordinately rich.
Everybody had considered it his or her business to give her information
about the gentleman's income; clearly implying thereby that in the
opinion of society Mr. Smithson's merits as a suitor were a question of
so much bullion.
Could she doubt--she who had learned in one short season to know what
the world was made of and what it most valued--could she, steeped to the
lips in the wisdom of Lady Kirkbank's set, doubt for an instant that she
was making a better match in the eye of society, than if she had married
a man of the highest lineage in all England, a peer of the highest rank,
without large means? She knew that money was power, that a man might
begin life as a pot-boy or a greengrocer, a knacker or a dust
contractor, and climb to the topmost pinnacles, were he only rich
enough. She knew that society would eat such a man's dinners and dance
at his wife's balls, and pretend to think him an altogether exceptional
man, make believe to admire him for his own sake, to think his wife most
brilliant among women, if he were only rich enough.
Pages:
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671