ou mean, Alfred, that, for some reason, you are determined to
view him with prejudice.'

'The reason is obvious enough. The fellow's behaviour is detestable; he
looks at you from head to foot as if you were applying for a place in
his stable. Whenever I want an example of a contemptible aristocrat,
there's Eldon ready-made. Contemptible, because he's such a sham; as if
everybody didn't know his history and his circumstances!'

'Everybody doesn't regard them as you do. There is nothing whatever
dishonourable in his position.'

'Not in sponging on a rich old plebeian, a man he despises, and living
in idleness at his expense?'

'I don't believe Mr. Eldon does anything of the kind. Since his
brother's death he has had a sufficient income of his own, so mother
says.'

'Sufficient income of his own! Bah! Five or six hundred a year; likely
he lives on that! Besides, haven't they soaped old Mutimer into leaving
them all his property? The whole affair is the best illustration one
could possibly have of what aristocrats are brought to in a democratic
age. First of all, Godfrey Eldon marries Mutimer's daughter; you are at
liberty to believe, if you like, that he would have married her just the
same if she hadn't had a penny. The old fellow is flattered. They see
the hold they have, and stick to him like leeches. All for want of
money, of course. Our aristocrats begin to see that they can't get on
without money nowadays; they can't live on family records, and they find
that people won't toady to them in the old way just on account of their
name. Why, it began with Eldon's father--didn't he put his pride in his
pocket, and try to make cash by speculation? Now I can respect him: he
at all events faced the facts of the case honestly. The despicable thing
in this Hubert Eldon is that, having got money once more, and in the
dirtiest way, he puts on the top-sawyer just as if there was nothing to
be ashamed of. If he and his mother were living in a small way on their
few hundreds a year, he might haw-haw as much as he liked, and I should
only laugh at him; he'd be a fool, but an honest one. But catch them
doing that! Family pride's too insubstantial a thing, you see. Well,
as I said, they illustrate the natural course of things, the transition
from the old age to the new. If Eldon has sons, they'll go in for
commerce, and make themselves, if they can, millionaires; but by that
time they'll dispense with airs and insolence--see if the