gentleman to suppose that I retrench for the purpose of giving a large
array of figures to your bankers' book. It would be sheer madness. I
cannot do it. I cannot afford to do it. When you are on a runaway horse,
I prefer to say a racehorse,--Richie, you must ride him. You dare not
throw up the reins. Only last night Wedderburn, appealing to Loftus,
a practical sailor, was approved when he offered--I forget the
subject-matter--the illustration of a ship on a lee-shore; you are lost
if you do not spread every inch of canvas to the gale. Retrenchment at
this particular moment is perdition. Count our gains, Richie. We have
won a princess...'

I called to him not to name her.

He persisted: 'Half a minute. She is won; she is ours. And let me, in
passing,--bear with me one second--counsel you to write to Prince
Ernest instanter, proposing formally for his daughter, and, in your
grandfather's name, state her dowry at fifty thousand per annum.'

'Oh, you forget!' I interjected.

'No, Richie, I do not forget that you are off a leeshore; you are
mounted on a skittish racehorse, with, if you like, a New Forest fly
operating within an inch of his belly-girths. Our situation is so far
ticklish, and prompts invention and audacity.'

'You must forget, sir, that in the present state of the squire's mind, I
should be simply lying in writing to the prince that he offers a dowry.'

'No, for your grandfather has yielded consent.'

'By implication, you know he withdraws it.'

'But if I satisfy him that you have not been extravagant?'

'I must wait till he is satisfied.'

'The thing is done, Richie, done. I see it in advance--it is done!
Whatever befalls me, you, my dear boy, in the space of two months, may
grasp--your fortune. Besides, here is my hand. I swear by it, my son,
that I shall satisfy the squire. I go farther; I say I shall have the
means to refund to you--the means, the money. The marriage is announced
in our prints for the Summer--say early June. And I undertake that
you, the husband of the princess, shall be the first gentleman in
England--that is, Europe. Oh! not ruling a coterie: not dazzling the
world with entertainments.' He thought himself in earnest when he said,
'I attach no mighty importance to these things, though there is no
harm I can perceive in leading the fashion--none that I see in having a
consummate style. I know your taste, and hers, Richie, the noble lady's.
She shall govern the intellectual wor