"The truth of it is, Maurry, we Jettans must marry for love. There's not one of us ever married without it, whether for money or no."
"'Tis so unfashionable," objected Maurice. "One marries for convenience. One may have fifty different loves."
"What! All at once? I think you'd find that a trifle inconvenient, Maurry! Lord! just fancy fifty loves, oh, the devil! And three's enough to drive one crazed, bruise me if 'tis not."
Maurice's thin lips twitched responsively.
"Gad no! Fifty loves spread over a lifetime, and you're not bound to one of them. There's bliss, Tom, you rogue!"
Thomas shook a wise finger at him, his plump, good-humoured face solemn all at once.
"And not one of them's the true love, Maurry. For if she were, faith, she'd not be one of fifty! Now, you take my advice, lad, and wait. Damme, we'll not spoil the family record!
"A rakish youth, says the Jettan adage,
Marriage for love, and a staid old age.
"I don't know that it's true about the staid old age, though. Maybe 'tis only those who wed for love who acquire virtue. Anyway, you'll not break the second maxim, Maurry."