"
"Then I look upon it as an act of simple madness, and can only say
that as such I shall treat it. I have nothing in my power, and
therefore I can neither do you good or harm; but I will not hear
any particulars, and I can only advise you to break it off, let the
trouble be what it may."
"I certainly shall not do that, sir."
"Then I have nothing more to say. Don't ask me to be present, and
don't ask me to see her."
"You haven't heard her name yet."
"I do not care one straw what her name is."
"It is Adelaide Palliser."
"Adelaide Muggins would be exactly the same thing to me. My dear
Gerard, I have lived too long in the world to believe that men can
coin into money the noble blood of well-born wives. Twenty thousand
pounds is worth more than all the blood of all the Howards, and
a wife even with twenty thousand pounds would make you a poor,
embarrassed, and half-famished man."
"Then I suppose I shall be whole famished, as she certainly has not
got a quarter of that sum."
"No doubt you will.
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