Page:Doctor Thorne.djvu/389

Rh other professional men. I could explain why, but it would be too long in a letter.

'Your feelings on the subject altogether do you great credit. I have no doubt that Mr. Gresham, if asked, would accede to the match; but that is just the reason why he should not be asked. It would not be right that I should say anything against your father to you; but it is impossible for any of us not to see that all through life he has thrown away every advantage, and sacrificed his family. Why is he now in debt, as you say? Why is he not holding the family seat in parliament? Even though you are his daughter, you cannot but feel that you would not do right to consult him on such a subject.

'As to dear aunt, I feel sure, that were she in good health, and left to exercise her own judgment, she would not wish to see you married to the agent for the family estate. For, dear Augusta, that is the real truth. Mr. Gazebee often comes here in the way of business; and though papa always receives him as a gentleman—that is, he dines at table and all that—he is not on the same footing in the house as the ordinary guests and friends of the family. How would you like to be received at Courcy Castle in the same way?

'You will say, perhaps, that you would still be papa's niece; so you would. But you know how strict in such matters papa is, and you must remember, that the wife always follows the rank of the husband. Papa is accustomed to the strict etiquette of a court, and I am sure that no consideration would induce him to receive the estate-agent in the light of a nephew. Indeed, were you to marry Mr. Gazebee, the house to which he belongs would, I imagine, have to give up the management of this property.

'Even were Mr. Gazebee in parliament—and I do not see how it is probable that he should get there—it would not make any difference. You must remember, dearest, that I never was an advocate for the Moffat match. I acquiesced in it, because mamma did so. If I could have had my own way, I would adhere to all our old prescriptive principles. Neither money nor position can atone to me for low birth. But the world, alas! is retrograding; and, according to the new-fangled doctrines of the day, a lady of blood is not disgraced by allying herself to a man of wealth, and what may be called quasi-aristocratic position. I wish it were otherwise; but so it is. And, therefore, the match with Mr. Moffat was not disgraceful, though it could not be regarded as altogether satisfactory.

'But with Mr. Gazebee the matter would be altogether different. He is a man earning his bread; honestly, I dare say,