[CHAPTER XXXV.]
GERALDINE'S CHOICE.
"Howe'er it be, it seems to me,
'Tis only noble to be good;
Kind hearts are more than coronets,
And simple faith than Norman blood."
Tennyson.
"Fair maiden, let me say to you,
Mark well the man who comes to woo;
Select the one as true as steel,
With brain to think and heart to feel."
Francis S. Smith.
When Mrs. Fitzgerald had dismissed Standish, she returned to her daughter and recounted all that had passed.
She was vastly amused at the actor's boastfulness, and said:
"It is only low-bred people, 'beggars on horseback,' as the saying goes, who brag of their possessions or their expectations. Really high-toned people—and they may be high-toned even if poor—can never tolerate purse-proud vulgarity."
Geraldine laughed and said: