I did it a little,
just as a start, but of course there's no end to what
could be done. You've been too busy heretofore, but we
can begin now whenever you like. I don't mind telling
you--I've had some thoughts of a possible marriage for you.
In point of blood and connections it would be such a match
as a commoner hasn't made before in my memory--a highly-
cultivated and highly-bred young lady of rank--and
settlements could be made so that a considerable quantity
of land would eventually come to your son. I needn't
tell you that land stands for much more than money,
if you happen to set your mind on a baronetcy or a peerage.
Of course--I need scarcely say--I mention this marriage
only as something which may or may not attract you,--it is
quite open to you to prefer another,--but there is hardly
anything of that sort in which I and my connections could
not be of use to you."
Even more by the tone and inflection of these words than
by the phrases themselves, Thorpe divined that he was being
offered the hand of the Hon. Winifred Plowden in marriage.
He recalled vividly the fact that once the shadow
of some such thought had floated through his own brain;
there had been a moment--it seemed curiously remote, like a
dream-phantom from some previous state of existence--when
he had dwelt with personal interest upon her inheritance
from long lines of noblemen, and her relation to half
the peerage.
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