But he is nothing; just an idle seeker
for pleasure without the means of obtaining it.'
'That is very bad.'
'As for rank,' continued the Duke energetically, 'I do not think
that I am specially wedded to it. I have found myself as willing
to associate with those who are without it as with those who have
it. But for my child, I would wish her to mate with one of her own
class.'
'It would be best.'
'When a young man comes to me, though I believe him to be what is
called a gentleman, has neither rank, nor means, nor profession,
nor name, and asks for my daughter, surely I am right to say that
such a marriage shall not be thought of. Was I not right?'
demanded the Duke persistently.
'But it is a pity that it should be so. It is a pity that they
should ever have come together.'
'It is indeed, indeed to be lamented,--and I will own at once that
the fault was not hers. Though I must be firm in this, you are not
to suppose that I am angry with her. I have myself been to blame.'
This he said with a resolution that,--as he and his wife had been
one flesh,--all faults committed by her should, now that she was
dead, be accepted by him as his faults.
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