The younger man did not at once reply. He seemed to be weighing carefully the thing he wished to say. At last:
"I am not a fool, father," he began, "and I have ambition, or I should be no son of yours. I should prefer to make a marriage which would establish me socially." Embarrassment made his phrasing somewhat stilted. "You will remember that when I first saw Miss Mynors, she was the daughter of a man with a county position. One assumed the adequate rent-roll that went with it."
"Yes, yes, my boy—I quite understand."
There was a pause. "She is far the most beautiful girl I ever saw," said Gerald at length.
"I grant it."
"She has also a beautiful disposition."
"H'mph!"
"Yes, it is so. Her birth being undeniable, and her beauty so great, I have been wondering whether—whether anything else that is within my reach could ever be as well worth having—could ever compensate me for her loss."
"In short, my able, intellectual son is preparing to consider the world well lost for love—eh?"
"I think, father, you will admit the temptation to do so in this case."