'Never had a girl such a chance,' she moaned. 'Quite the best match in
society. The house in Park Lane alone cost a fortune. Her diamonds would
have been the finest in London.'
'They would have been stained with the blood of the niggers he traded in
out yonder,' answered Maulevrier. 'Do you think I would have let my
sister marry a slave-dealer?'
'I don't believe a syllable of it,' protested Lady Kirkbank, dabbing her
brow with a handkerchief steeped in eau de Cologne. 'A vile fabrication
of Montesma's, who wanted to blacken poor Smithson's character in order
to extenuate his own crimes.'
'Well, we won't go into that question,' said Maulevrier wearily. 'The
Smithson match is off, anyhow; and it matters very little to us whether
he made most money out of niggers or bubble companies, or lotteries or
gaming hells.'
'I am convinced that Smithson made his fortune in a thoroughly
gentlemanlike manner,' argued Lady Kirkbank. 'Look at the people who
visit him, and the houses he goes to. And I don't see why the match need
be off.
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