Davenport Dunn, a Man of Our Day. Volume 2 (of 2)Lever, Charles
General
Davenport Dunn, a Man of Our Day. Volume 2 (of 2)
Lever, Charles
Aristocracy (Social class) -- Great Britain -- Fiction; Capitalists and financiers -- Fiction
The three who now met were each in their several ways in good spirits:
Grog, because he had successfully reasserted his influence over Beecher;
Beecher, because, while appearing to be defeated, he had duped his
adversary; and Lizzy, for the far better reason that she was looking
her very best, and that she knew it. She had, moreover, passed a very
pleasant morning; for Mr. Twining had made it his business--doubtless,
with much hand-rubbing and many exclamations of “What fun!”--to go
amongst all the tradespeople of Baden, proclaiming the arrival of
a “millionnaire Milor,” and counselling them to repair with all the
temptations of their shops to the hotel. The consequence was that
Lizzy's drawing-room was like a fair till the hour of dressing for
dinner. Jewelry in its most attractive forms, rich lace, silks,
velvets, furs, costly embroideries, inlaid cabinets, gems, ancient
and modern,--all the knick-knackeries which a voluptuous taste has
conceived, all the extravagant inventions of a fashion bent on ruinous
expenditure,--were there; fans sparkling with rubies, riding-whips
incrusted with turquoises, slippers studded over with pearls. There was
nothing wanting; even richly carved meerschaums and walking-sticks were
paraded, in the hope that as objects of art and elegance they might
attract her favor. Her father had found her dazzled and delighted by
all this splendor, and told her that one of the first duties of her high
station was the encouragement of art. “It is to you, and such as you,
these people look for patronage,” said he. “An English peeress is a
princess, and must dispense her wealth generously.”
I am bound to acknowledge, her Ladyship did not shrink from this
responsibility of her station. Without caring for the cost,--as often
without even inquiring the price,--she selected what she wished; and
rows of pearls, diamond bracelets, rings, and head ornaments covered her
dressing-table, while sable and Astrakan cloaks, cashmeres, and Genoa
velvets littered every corner of the room. “After all,” thought she, as
she fixed a jewelled comb in her hair, “it is very nice to be rich; and
while delighting yourself you can make so many others happy.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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