smuggling, and it is necessary to propitiate him, as, I grieve to say, the Marquis of Wentworthdale has given up all thoughts of marriage; and I am, of course, on the look-out for something for Georgiana, who is now with Louisa, and may be tempted to make a low connexion among the city acquaintances of Charles Penrhyn—not that I shall object to a man who keeps two houses, two carriages, and who will give her two hundred pounds pin-money quarterly. Such a marriage might answer to us all; and I ought to think for myself, as your chance has been gone by for years. Lord Allerton will, of course, look out for an heiress; he is travelling on the Continent for that purpose, and has taken the best method—for when people are jumbled together in miserable inns, frightened by banditti, or cheated by shopkeepers, it produces great union of opinion and interests—and there is little doubt of his catching somebody worth the bait his person and position offers. I merely touch on this subject, to guard you from thinking about him, should he cross your path. No man marries two portionless wives, especially after the first has played the fool, as Miss Aubrey has done. At twenty, young men call money dross, but at thirty they know it to be the staff of life; therefore, do not subject yourself to further inconvenience, I beseech you; it is sufficient
