Page:Ethel Churchill 1.pdf/148

142 know very well that your estate, fine as it is, is burdened by heavy mortgages, which Constance's noble fortune would at once redeem." "And, by the sacrifice of all my best feelings and dearest hopes, I might," cried Norbourne, "command a few luxuries to which I am perfectly indifferent." "You are wrong," replied Mrs. Courtenaye: "luxury is but a trifle—not so power and position. With an unencumbered estate, you take the first place in the county; you obtain the finest field for the exertion of your talents; and England has no distinction to which you may not reasonably aspire." "But I am not ambitious," returned Norbourne. "It is what every man ought to be," interrupted his mother. "I should, from my inmost soul, despise any one who, with your advantages, could voluntarily sit down to a country life of indolent seclusion." "I have no such idea," replied her son; "but my future does not depend on my marrying my cousin."