“No man, my lord, capable of appreciate ing her could think of anything but herself.”
“What! not of her property?”
“Property, my-lord; is a very secondary subject when taken into consideration with the merits of the lady herself. I am no enemy to property, and I admit its importance as an element of happiness when reasonably applied, but I am neither sordid nor selfish; and I know how little, after all, it contributes to domestic enjoyment, unless accompanied by those virtues which constitute the charm of connubial life.”
“Confound me but you must have got that out of a book, Woodward.”
“Out of the best book, my lord—the book of life and observation.”
“Why, curse it, you are talking philosophy, though.”
“Only common sense, my lord.”
His lordship, who was walking to and fro in the room, turned abruptly round, looked keenly at him, and then, addressing Mrs. Lindsay, said,—
“Why, upon my soul, Mrs. Lindsay, we must try and do something with this fellow; he'll be lost to the world if we don't. Come, I say, we must make a public man of him.”
“To become a public man is his own ambition, my lord,” replied Mrs. Lindsay; “and although I am his mother, and may feel prejudiced in his favor, still I agree with your lordship that it is a pity to see such abilities as his unemployed.”