An England without
a Duke of Omnium,--or at any rate without any Duke,--what would it
be? And yet he knew that with bad Dukes his country would be in
worse stress than though she had none at all. An aristocracy;--yes;
but an aristocracy that shall be of the very best! He believed
himself thoroughly in this order; but if this order or many of his
order, should become as was now Lord Grex, then, he thought, that
his order not only must go to the wall, but that, in the cause of
humanity, it had better do so. With all this daily, hourly,
always in his mind, this matter in the choice of a wife for his
heir was to him of solemn importance.
When they arrived Silverbridge was there and led them first of all
into the dining-room. 'My!' said Mrs Boncassen, as she looked
around her. 'I thought that our Fifth Avenue parlous whipped up
everything in the way of city houses.'
'What a nice little room for Darby and Joan to sit down to eat a
mutton-chop in,' said Isabel.
'It's a beastly great barrack,' said Silverbridge;--'but the best
of it is that we never use it.
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