human
That serene heaven, those lovely stars, said Maltravers at last,
gpt
A slippery and subtle knave; a finder out of occasions, that has an eye can stamp and counterfeit advantages.
human
Knavery's plain face is never seen till used.
gpt
You see, my dear Lumley, said Lord Saxingham, as the next day the two kinsmen were on their way to London in the earl's chariot,
human
Why, indeed, it has its disadvantages. Maltravers is a gentleman and a man of genius; but gentlemen are plentiful, and his genius only tells against us, since he is not even of our politics.
gpt
Exactly--my own son-in-law voting against me!
human
A practicable, reasonable man would change; not so Maltravers--and all the estates, and all the parliamentary influence, and all the wealth that ought to go with the family and with the party, go out of the family and against the party. You are quite right, my dear lord--it is a cursed bore.
gpt
And she might have had the Duke of ------, a man with a rental of L100,000 a year. It is too ridiculous. This Maltravers, d----d disagreeable fellow, too, eh?
human
Stiff and stately--much changed for the worse of late years--grown conceited and set up.
gpt
Do you know, Lumley, I would rather, of the two, have had you for my son-in-law?
human
Are you serious, my lord? I have not Ernest's fortune--I cannot make such settlements: my lineage, too, at least on my mother's side, is less ancient.
gpt
Oh, as to settlements, Flory's fortune ought to be settled on herself,--and as compared with that fortune, what could Mr. Maltravers pretend to settle? Neither she nor any children she may have could want his L4,000 a year, if he settled it all. As for family, connections tell more nowadays than Norman descent,--and for the rest, you are likely to be old Templeton's heir, to have a peerage (a large sum of ready money is always useful)--are rising in the House--one of our own set--will soon be in office--and, flattery apart, a devilish good fellow into the bargain. Oh, I would sooner a thousand times that Flory had taken a fancy to you.