But, when the Earl farther enquired whether the offer had been accepted or not, the young lord was under the necessity of acknowledging that it had not been exactly accepted, but that he had no doubt it would be. This was a curious piece of refinement in the art of lying. Lord Spoonbill was too scrupulous to commit himself by a downright palpable falsehood, which might be detected, but instead of that he had recourse to one of those lies, which are not so easy of detection, but which answer quite as well the purpose of deceit. It was quite as much a lie to say that he had no doubt that his offer would be accepted, as it would have been to say that it had already been accepted. But the one lie might have been detected, the other could not. He had doubts of his acceptance, and serious doubts too; but he thought that if the young lady and her father found that the match was countenanced by the Earl, and, if proposals could be fairly and fully made before Mr Darnley should have an opportunity of holding any intercourse with Miss Primrose or her father, there was a possibility of success. This information was indeed melancholy news to Lord Smatterton, who had enjoyed and pleased himself with the thought that he had to boast of true patrician blood, and who looked forward to see his only son uphold the dignity of his house. There is a pleasure in greatness which none but great ones know. It had been the pride of the Earl of Smatterton to look down with contempt on such noble families as had degraded themselves by admixture with plebeian blood. Now all his sneers and sarcasms, he thought, would be turned against himself, and it pained him to think that it might be said of him, "that is Lord Smatterton, whose son married a woman from the City." His lordship knew that his son was obstinate and headstrong, and he saw that there was no mode of preventing the catastrophe, if the young man had set his mind upon it. But notwithstanding he knew that opposition must be fruitless, he could not help speaking in his own peculiarly emphatic manner against the proposed match. "Spoonbill," said the Earl, "marry Miss Primrose if you please; but remember"--here his lordship made a most magnificent pause--"remember that your establishment must be from the fortune of your destined bride. From me you have nothing." Had circumstances been otherwise than they were, and not requiring such despatch, Lord Spoonbill would not have heeded this speech. He would have known that ultimately he should succeed with his magnificent father; but his object was to come to a speedy decision; he wished to be able at once to make a decided proposal. At this remark of his father Lord Spoonbill was angry and sulky, and he pettishly replied; "I think I have a right to marry as I please." "And I also have a right to use my property as I please; and I will never consent to appropriate any part of it to the purpose of introducing a woman of low birth into my family."