of an ambitious man—solid judgment to fit her for his occasional adviser. She could preside with dignity over a stately household —receive with grace distinguished guests. Fitted to administer an ample fortune, ample fortune was necessary to the devel- opment of her excellent qualities. If a man of Darrell's age were bold enough to marry a young wife, a safer wife among the young ladies of London he could scarcely find; for though Honoria was only three-and-twenty, she was as staid, as sensi- ble, and as remote from all girlish frivolities as if she had been eight-and-thirty. Certainly had Guy Darrell been of her own years, his fortune unmade, his fame to win, a lawyer residing at the back of Holborn, or a petty squire in the petty de- mesnes of Fawley, he would have had no charm in the eyes of Honoria Vipont. Disparity of years was in this case not his drav/back but his advantage, since to that disparity Darrell owed the established name and the eminent station which made Honoria think she elevated her own self in pre- ferring him. It is but justice to her to distinguish here between a woman's veneration for the attributes of respect which a man gathers round him, and the more vulgar sentiment which sinks the man altogether, except as the necessary fixture to be taken in with the general valuation. It is not fair to ask if a girl who entertains a preference for one of our toiling, stirring, ambitious sex, who may be double her age, or have a snub nose, but who looks dignified and imposing on a pedestal of state, whether she would like him as much if stripped of all his acces- sories, and left unredeemed to his baptismal register or unbecom- ing nose. Just as well ask a girl in love with a young Lothario if she would like him as much if he had been ugly and crooked. The high name of the one man is as much a part of him as good looks are to the other. Thus, though it was said of Madame de la Villiere that she loved Louis XIV. for himself and not for his regal grandeur, is there a woman in the world, however disinter- ested, who believes that Madame de la Villiere would have liked Louis XIV. as much if Louis XIV. had been Mr. John Jones! Honoria would not have bestowed her hand on a brainless, worth- less nobleman, whatever his rank or wealth. She was above that sort of ambition; but neither would she have married the best-looking and worthiest John Jones whoever bore that British appellation, if he had not occupied the social position which brought the merits of a Jones within range of the eye-glass of a Vipont.
Many girls in the nursery say to their juvenile confidantes,' " I will only marry the man I love." Honoria had ever said, ' I
