Page:Lady Anne Granard 1.pdf/123

118 to have been the case; apparently, he considered that such an avowal would be misplaced to his dear Julia's brother; and he contented himself with observing, "I was in very different circumstances. I could afford the expense of a wife, and the expense is enormous. Why Julia's diamond necklace alone, that she wore at the last drawing-room, cost two thousand guineas." "I should marry a woman," replied Julia's brother, "who would be satisfied without any diamonds at all." "And where," asked his lordship, "do you expect to find such a phœnix? Have you found some piece of rural simplicity, whom you have persuaded that nothing is so becoming as a few wild flowers placed carelessly in the hair? Both she and you will soon find out the difference. Believe me, all women are alike." "I cannot agree with you," eagerly interrupted the lover." "I did not expect you to agree with me; no single man ever agrees with a married man on such a subject. Hope and experience take two different sides of an argument. Marriage is the greatest act of folly that a man can commit; he ought at least to put it off as long as possible." "Delays are dangerous," said Charles; "I may perhaps never get married at all." "And no harm if you never do," replied his brother-in-law; "greater misfortunes may befall you than that. No, no! I set myself against this sudden whim