"What about these Western people?" she asked Oldaker at her other side, after a little.
"Decent, unpretentious folks, somewhat new, but with loads of money."
"I've heard how the breed's stormin' New York in droves; but they tell me some of us need the money."
"I dined with one last night, a sugar-cured ham magnate from Chicago."
"Dear me! how shockin'!"
"But they're good, whole-souled people."
"And well-heeled—and that's what we need, it seems. Some of us been so busy bein' well-familied that we've forgot to make money."
"It's a good thing, too. Nature has her own building laws about fortunes. When they get too sky-scrapy she topples them over. These people with their thrifty habits would have all the money in time if their sons and daughters didn't marry aristocrats with expensive tastes who know how to be spenders. Nature keeps things fairly even, one way or another."
"You're thinkin' about Kitty and the duke."
"No, not then I wasn't, though that's one of the class I mean. I was thinking especially about these Westerners."