no attention to her, but went on
talkin' without knowing, most likely, she was there. Mr. Have-lot and
the gentleman were talkin' about you, and Jane she heard Mr. Havelot say
as plain as anything, and she said she couldn't be mistaken, that even
if your nonsensical ice-mine proved to be worth anything, he would
never let his daughter marry an ice-man. He spoke most disrespectful of
ice-men, sir, and said that it would make him sick to have a son-in-law
whose business it was to sell ice to butchers, and hotels, and
grog-shops, and pork-packers, and all that sort of people, and that he
would as soon have his daughter marry the man who supplied a hotel with
sausages as the one who supplied it with ice to keep those sausages from
spoiling. You see, sir, Mr. Havelot lives on his property as his father
did before him, and he is a very proud man, with a heart as hard and
cold as that ice down under your land; and it's borne in on me very
strong, sir, that it would be a bad thing for you to keep on thinkin'
that you are gettin' this house all ready to bring Miss Havelot to when
you have married her. For if Mr. Havelot keeps on livin', which there's
every chance of his doin', it may be many a weary year before you get
Miss Agnes, if you ever get her. And havin' said that, sir, I say no
more, and I would not have said this much if I hadn't felt it my bounden
duty to your father's son to warn him that most likely he was workin'
for what he might never get, and so keep him from breakin' his heart
when he found out the truth all of a sudden."

With that Susan left me, without offering any assistance in making out a
list of china. This was a terrible story; but, after all, it was founded
only upon servants' gossip. In this country, even proud, rich men like
Mr. Havelot did not have such absurd ideas regarding the source of
wealth. Money is money, and whether it is derived from the ordinary
products of the earth, from which came much of Mr. Havelot's revenue,
or from an extraordinary project such as my glacier spur, it truly could
not matter so far as concerned the standing in society of its possessor.
What utter absurdity was this which Susan had told me! If I were to go
to Mr. Havelot and tell him that I would not marry his daughter because
he supplied brewers and bakers with the products of his fields, would he
not consider me an idiot? I determined to pay no attention to the idle
tale. But alas! determinations of that sort are of