"No one! no one!" answered Rachael, with enthusiasm. "There is but one man on all the earth so far above the rest; but persons who look upon birth and wealth as everything, may not see him with our eyes, my Clara. Then there is another objection. Hepworth is over thirty."
"Mamma Rachael, you know well enough that I never did like boys," said Clara, with childish petulance.
"And compared with the great landed noblemen of England, he is poor."
"Not so, mamma Rachael. He has made lots and lots of money out in those countries where they dig gold from the earth. He described it all to me, about washing dirt in pans, and crushing rocks in great machines, and picking up pure gold in nuggets—why, he found an awful big one himself. I daresay he has got more real money than papa. I do, indeed."
Lady Hope sighed. Perhaps she thought so too; for Oakhurst was closely entailed, and ready money was sometimes scarce in that sumptuous dwelling.
"And then how much shall I have? Let me ask that of papa."
"But you will inherit something with the Carset title in spite of your grandmother."
"Yes, I know. An enormous old castle with just land enough to keep it in repair. That isn't much to boast of, or make a man like Mr. Closs feel modest when he thinks of me."
"But the title. Is it nothing to be a peeress in your own right?"
"I would rather he were an earl, and I a peeress in his right."