And yet what was such a one as he to do? It was of course necessary for
the maintenance of the very constitution of his country that there should
be future Lord Fawns. There could be no future Lord Fawns unless he
married; and how could he marry without money? "A peasant can marry whom
he pleases," said Lord Fawn, pressing his hand to his brow, and dropping
one flap of his coat, as he thought of his own high and perilous destiny,
standing with his back to the fireplace, while a huge pile of letters lay
there before him waiting to be signed.
It was a Saturday evening, and as there was no House there was nothing to
hurry him away from the office. He was the occupier for the time of a
large, well-furnished official room, looking out into St. James's Park;
and as he glanced round it he told himself that his own happiness must be
there, and not in the domesticity of a quiet home. The House of Lords, out
of which nobody could turn him, and official life--as long as he could
hold to it--must be all in all to him. He had engaged himself to this
woman, and he must--marry her. He did not think that he could now see any
way of avoiding that event.
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