se."

"You have money."

"Yes, indeed; plenty,--for wants so moderate as mine."

"And position."

"Well, yes; a sort of position. Not such as yours, Lady Glencora.
That, if it be not born to a woman, can only come to her from a
husband. She cannot win it for herself."

"You are free as air, going where you like, and doing what you like."

"Too free, sometimes," said Madame Goesler.

"And what will you gain by changing all this simply for a title?"

"But for such a title, Lady Glencora! It may be little to you to be
Duchess of Omnium, but think what it must be to me!"

"And for this you will not hesitate to rob him of all his friends, to
embitter his future life, to degrade him among his peers,--"

"Degrade him! Who dares say that I shall degrade him? He will exalt
me, but I shall no whit degrade him. You forget yourself, Lady
Glencora."

"Ask any one. It is not that I despise you. If I did, would I offer
you my hand in friendship? But an old man, over seventy, carrying the
weight and burden of such rank as his, will degrade himself in the
eyes of his fellows, if he marries a young woman without rank, let
her be ever so clever, ever so beautiful. A Duke of Omnium may not do
as he pleases, as may another man."

"It may be well, Lady Glencora, for other dukes, and for the
daughters and heirs and cousins of other dukes, that his Grace should
try that question. I will, if you wish it, argue this matter with you
on many points, but I will not allow you to say that I should degrade
any man whom I might marry. My name is as unstained as your own."

"I meant nothing of that," said Lady Glencora.

"For him;--I certainly would not willingly injure him. Who wishes
to injure a friend? And, in truth, I have so little to gain, that
the temptation to do him an injury, if I thought it one, is not
strong. For your little boy, Lady Glencora, I think your fears are
premature." As she said this, there came a smile over her face, which
threatened to break from control and almost become laughter. "But, if
you will allow me to say so, my mind will not be turned against this
marriage half so strongly by any arguments you can use as by those
which I can adduce myself. You have nearly driven me into it by
telling me I should degrade his house. It is almost incumbent on me
to prove that you are wrong. But you had better leave me to settle
the matter in my own bosom. You had indeed."

After a while Lady Glencora did leave her,--t