She would at any rate be able to throw it daily in her
niece's teeth that the splendour was of her doing. Now a marriage with Sir
Florian Eustace would be very splendid, and therefore she was unable to go
into the matter of the jewels with that rigour which in other
circumstances she would certainly have displayed.
The match with Sir Florian Eustace--for a match it came to be--was
certainly very splendid. Sir Florian was a young man about eight and
twenty, very handsome, of immense wealth, quite unencumbered, moving in
the best circles, popular, so far prudent that he never risked his fortune
on the turf or in gambling-houses, with the reputation of a gallant
soldier, and a most devoted lover. There were two facts concerning him
which might, or might not, be taken as objections. He was vicious, and--he
was dying. When a friend, intending to be kind, hinted the latter
circumstance to Lady Linlithgow, the countess blinked and winked and
nodded, and then swore that she had procured medical advice on the
subject. Medical advice declared that Sir Florian was not more likely to
die than another man--if only he would get married; all of which statement
on her ladyship's part was a lie.
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