"You talk, mon ami!--talk as if heiresses were as plentiful as blackberries."
"I don't think your heiress is a difficult fish to catch, especially by such a clever angler as I do not doubt that you are. But then you must make up your mind to be indifferent to good looks, and good breeding, and a few other simple et ceteras."
"Ah! there's the rub."
"But do you mean to say that the idea of marrying for money is one that you have never turned over in your mind?"
"I can't say that exactly; but my ideas on the point have been very hazy ones indeed--quite nebulous, I assure you--nothing solid or tangible about them."
"Nebulosity of ideas is a very bad thing in anybody. The sooner you bring them down from the clouds and condense them into a practical shape the better. First catch--not your hare, but your heiress; then bring all your powers of fascination to bear upon her, and then----"
"My powers of fascination, indeed! You talk of me as if I were a rattlesnake."
Again Kelvin laughed, then recollecting an appointment, he looked at his watch.
"Well, don't forget to be here at six sharp," he said.
And with that Gerald went.