The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 2, May, 1851Various
History
The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 2, May, 1851
Various
Art, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- History -- Periodicals
"Mr. Dale, look you, I'm a single man. Perhaps I may marry some day;
perhaps I shan't. I'm not going to throw myself away. If I can get a
lady of quality, why--but that's neither here nor there; meanwhile, I
should be glad of a nephew whom I need not be ashamed of. You see, sir,
I'm a new man, the builder of my own fortunes; and, though I have picked
up a little education--I don't well know how--as I scrambled on, still,
now I come back to the old country, I'm well aware that I am not exactly
a match for those d----d aristocrats--don't show so well in a
drawing-room as I could wish. I could be a Parliament man if I liked,
but I might make a goose of myself; so, all things considered, if I can
get a sort of junior partner to do the polite work, and show off the
goods, I think the house of Avenel & Co. might become a pretty
considerable honor to the Britishers. You understand me, sir?"
"Oh, very well," answered Mr. Dale, smiling, though rather gravely.
"Now," continued the New Man, "I'm not ashamed to have risen in life by
my own merits; and I don't disguise what I've been. And, when I'm in my
own grand house, I'm fond of saying, 'I landed at New-York with ten
pounds in my purse, and here I am!' But it would not do to have the old
folks with me. People take you with all your faults, if you're rich, but
they won't swallow your family into the bargain. So, if I don't have my
own father and mother, whom I love dearly, and should like to see
sitting at table, with my servants behind their chairs, I could still
less have sister Jane. I recollect her very well, and she can't have got
genteeler as she's grown older. Therefore I beg you'll not set her on
coming after me; it won't do by any manner of means. Don't say a word
about me to her. But send the boy down here to his grandfather, and I'll
see him quietly, you understand."
"Yes, but it will be hard to separate her from the boy."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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