"A very good thing too, I'm sure," said Alice; "only it depends something on the sort of wife you get."
"You mean, of course, how much money she has."
"Not altogether."
"Looking at it from my cousin's point of view, I suppose that it is the only important point. Who are there coming up this year,—in the way of heiresses?"
"Upon my word I don't know. In the first place, how much money makes an heiress?"
"For such a fellow as me, I suppose ten thousand pounds ought to do."
"That's not much," said Alice, who had exactly that amount of her own.
"No—; perhaps that's too moderate. But the lower one went in the money speculation, the greater would be the number to choose from, and the better the chance of getting something decent in the woman herself. I have something of my own,—not much you know; so with the lady's ten thousand pounds we might be able to live,—in some second-rate French town perhaps."
"But I don't see what you would gain by that."
"My people here would have got rid of me. That seems to be the great thing. If you hear of any girl with about that sum, moderately good-looking, not too young so that she might know something of the world, decently born, and able to read and write, perhaps you will bear me in mind."