It was not by his own doing that he belonged to
an aristocracy which, if all exclusiveness were banished from it,
must cease to exist. But being what he was, having been born to
such privileges and such limitations, was he not bound in duty to
maintain a certain exclusiveness? He would appeal to the young man
himself to say whether marriage ought to be free between all
classes of the community. And if not between all, who was to
maintain the limits but they to whom authority in such matters is
given? So much in regard to rank! And then he would ask this
young man whether he thought it fitting that a young man whose
duty according to all known principles it must be to earn bread,
should avoid that manifest duty by taking a wife who could
maintain him. As he roamed about his park alone he felt that he
could write such a letter as would make an impression even upon a
lover. But when he had come back to his study, other reflections
came to his aid. Though he might write the most appropriate letter
in the world, would there not certainly be a reply? As to
conviction, had he ever known an instance of a man who had been
convinced by an adversary? Of course there would be a reply,--and
replies.
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