de you one of the
Directors at his Board. Oh Felix;--it is almost too good to be true.'

'I ain't quite sure that I care very much about being married, you
know.'

'Oh, Felix, pray don't say that. Why shouldn't you like being married?
She is a very nice girl, and we shall all be so fond of her! Don't let
any feeling of that kind come over you; pray don't. You will be able
to do just what you please when once the question of her money is
settled. Of course you can hunt as often as you like, and you can have
a house in any part of London you please. You must understand by this
time how very disagreeable it is to have to get on without an
established income.'

'I quite understand that.'

'If this were once done you would never have any more trouble of that
kind. There would be plenty of money for everything as long as you
live. It would be complete success. I don't know how to say enough to
you, or to tell you how dearly I love you, or to make you understand
how well I think you have done it all.' Then she caressed him again,
and was almost beside herself in an agony of mingled anxiety and joy.
If, after all, her beautiful boy, who had lately been her disgrace and
her great trouble because of his poverty, should shine forth to the
world as a baronet with L20,000 a year, how glorious would it be! She
must have known,--she did know,--how poor, how selfish a creature he was.
But her gratification at the prospect of his splendour obliterated the
sorrow with which the vileness of his character sometimes oppressed
her. Were he to win this girl with all her father's money, neither she
nor his sister would be the better for it, except in this, that the
burden of maintaining him would be taken from her shoulders. But his
magnificence would be established. He was her son, and the prospect of
his fortune and splendour was sufficient to elate her into a very
heaven of beautiful dreams. 'But, Felix,' she continued, 'you really
must stay and go to the Longestaffes' to-morrow. It will only be one
day. And now were you to run away--'

'Run away! What nonsense you talk.'

'If you were to start back to London at once I mean, it would be an
affront to her, and the very thing to set Melmotte against you. You
should lay yourself out to please him;--indeed you should.'

'Oh, bother!' said Sir Felix. But nevertheless he allowed himself to
be persuaded to remain. The matter was important even to him, and he
consented to endure the almost