“Why, the advantages are obvious: if by your help I can become Prime Minister, you would become the wife of the Prime Minister.”
“The prospect fails to dazzle me. I have everything that I want; why should I strive to reach a grandeur to which I was not born, and which, to speak the truth, I regard with a very complete indifference? But there is another point. In all your speech you have said nothing of any affection that you have to offer, not a single word of love— you have been content to expatiate on the profits that a matrimonial investment would bring to yourself, and by reflection, to the other contracting party.”
“Love,” asked Lord Minster, with an expression of genuine surprise; “why, you talk like a character in a novel; now tell me, Mrs. Carr, what is love?”
“It is difficult to define, Lord Minster; but as you ask me to do so, I will try. Love to a woman is what the sun is to the world, it is her life, her animating principle, without which she must droop, and, if the plant be very tender, die. Except under its influence, a woman can never attain her full growth, never touch the height of her possibilities, or bloom into the plenitude of her moral beauty. A loveless marriage dwarfs our natures, a marriage where love is develops them to their utmost.”
“And what is love to a man?”
“Well, I should say that nine of a man’s passions are merely episodes in his career, the mile-stones that mark his path; the tenth, or the first, is his philosopher’s stone that turns all things to gold, or, if the charm does not work, leaves his heart, broken and bankrupt, a cold monument of failure.”
“I don’t quite follow you, and I must say that, speaking for myself, I never felt anything of all this,” said Lord Minster, blankly.
“I know you do not, Lord Minster; your only passions tend towards political triumphs and personal aggrandisement; we are at the two poles, you see, and I fear that we can never, never meet upon a common matrimonial line. But don’t be down-hearted about it, you will find plenty more women who fulfil all your requirements and will be very happy to take you at your own valuation. If only a woman is necessary to success, you need not look far, and forgive me if I say that I believe it will not make much difference to you who she is. But all the same, Lord Minster, I will venture to give you a piece of advice: next time you propose, address yourself a little more to the lady’s affections and a little less to her interests,” and Mrs. Carr rose as though to show that the interview was at an end.
“Am I then to understand that my offer is definitely refused?” asked Lord Minster, stiffly.
“I am afraid so, and I am sure that you will, on reflection, see how utterly unsuited we are to each other.”