kind of apology she subsequently made to me in my own room. Just imagine
her saying,--
"I was certain it would be a perfect boon to you to get away from that
tiresome creature."
If you only saw him, Kitty! if you only heard him! But all I said was,--
"There is certainly the merit of a discovery in your remark, Cary; for
I fancy you are the first who has found out Lord George Tiverton to be
tiresome!"
"I only meant," said she, "that his eternal egotism grows wearisome at
last, and that the most interesting person in the world would benefit by
occasionally discussing something besides himself."
"Captain Morris, for instance," said I, sharply.
"Even so," said she, laughing; "only I half suspect the theme is one he
'll not touch upon!" And with this she left the room.
The fact is, Kitty, jealousy of Lord George's rank, his high station,
and his aristocratic connections are the real secret of her animosity to
him. She feels and sees how small "her poor Captain" appears beside him,
and of course the reflection is anything but agreeable. Yet I am sure
she might know that I would do everything in my power to diminish the
width of that gulf between them, and that I would study to reconcile the
discrepancies and assuage the differences of their so very dissimilar
stations. She may, it is true, place this beyond my power to effect; but
the fault in that case will be purely and solely her own.
You do me no more than justice, Kitty, in saying that you are sure I
will feel happy at anything which can conduce to the welfare of Dr. B.;
and I unite with you in wishing him every success his new career can
bestow. Not but, dearest, I must say that, judging from the knowledge I
now possess of life and the world, I should augur more favorably of his
prospects had he still remained in that quiet obscurity for which his
talents and habits best adapt him than adventure upon the more ambitious
but perilous career he has just embarked in. You tell me that, having
gone up to Dublin to thank one of his patrons at the late election, he
was invited to a dinner, where he made the acquaintance of the Earl of
Darewood; and that the noble Lord, now Ambassador at Constantinople, was
so struck with his capacity, knowledge, and great modesty that he made
him at once an offer of the post of Physician to the Embassy, which with
equal promptitude was accepted.
Very flatteringly as this reads, dearest, it is the very climax of
improbability; and I have the very strongest conviction that the whole
appointment is wholly and solely due to the secret influence of Lord
George Tiverton, who is the Earl's nephew. In the first place, Kitty,
supposing that the great Earl and the small Dispensary Doctor did really
meet at the same dinner-table,--an incident just as unlikely as need be
conceived,--how many and what opportunities would there exist for that
degree of intercourse of which you speak?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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