Elizabeth will be true to him, if she never sees him again. I
know her, you do not."
"What is to be done, then?"
"I was thinking of Selina Digby."
"O you know she is not pretty at all!"
"We agreed not to let such things as that influence us."
"And she is older than I am."
"She has L50,000, that is more than double Elizabeth's fortune. A man
can't have every thing. It is entirely at her own disposal also. Your
brother-in-law is far too much absorbed in politics to interfere--the
ground there is clear for you."
"If I succeed?"
"I will promise to find capital equal to yours. What did my lord say
concerning our plan?"
"He said we must have some instruction, and that he would speak to
Sir Thomas Harrington. My father secured his seat in Parliament, and
he is sure to allow us to enter his house. We shall have every facility
there for acquiring a rapid practical knowledge of banking and finance.
I told father it was that or the colonies. I have no idea of being
'only Lord Francis's brother.'"
"Money is the axle on which the world turns, George. When you and I
have it we can buy titles--if we want them."
The fever of fortune-making had seized both young men. They were
ambitious in the most personal sense of the word. George's position
as younger son constantly mortified him.
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