“Lord Estridge: but you know him—he has been often here.”
“Is he rich?” said Lady Davenant.
“Oh yes, very rich, and very self-sufficient: he is the man Cecilia used to call ‘Le prince de mon mérite.’”
“Did she? I do not remember. He made no impression on me, nor on you, I dare say.”
“Not the least, indeed.”
“No matter, he will do as well as another, since he is rich. You can marry him, and pay your present debts, and contract new, for thousands instead of hundreds:—this is what you CAN do, Helen.”
“Do you think I can?” said Helen.
“You can, I suppose, as well as others. You know that young ladies often marry to pay their debts?”
“So I once heard,” said Helen, “but is it possible?”
“Quite. You might have been told more—that they enter into regular partnerships, joint-stock companies with dress-makers and jewellers, who make their ventures and bargains on the more or less reputation of the young ladies for beauty or for fashion, supply them with finery, speculate on their probabilities of matrimonial success, and trust to being repaid after marriage. Why not pursue this plan next season in town? You must come to it like others, whose example you follow—why not begin it immediately?”