’When Mr Oriel proposed to Beatrice, nobody seemed to make any objection.  It all seemed to go as a matter of course.  She says that his family is excellent; but as far as I can learn, his grandfather was a general in India, and came home very rich.  Mr Gazebee’s grandfather was a member of the firm, and so, I believe, was his great-grandfather.  Don’t you think this ought to count for something?  Besides, they have no business except with the most aristocratic persons, such as uncle De Courcy, and the Marquis of Kensington Gore, and that sort.  I mention the marquis because Mr Mortimer Gazebee is there now.  And I know that one of the Gumptions was once in Parliament; and I don’t think that any of the Oriels ever were.  The name of attorney is certainly very bad, is it not, Amelia? but they certainly do not seem to be all the same, and I do think that this ought to make a difference.  To hear Mr Mortimer Gazebee talk of some attorney at Barchester, you would say that there is quite as much difference between them as between a bishop and a curate.  And so I think there is.

’I don’t wish at all to speak of my own feelings; but if he were not an attorney, he is, I think, the sort of man I should like.  He is very nice in every way, and if you were not told, I don’t think you would know he was an attorney.  But, dear Amelia, I will be guided by you altogether.  He is certainly much nicer than Mr Moffat, and has a great deal more to say for himself.  Of course, Mr Moffat having been in Parliament, and having been taken up by uncle De Courcy, was in a different sphere; but I really felt almost relieved when he behaved in that way.  With Mortimer Gazebee, I think it would be different.

’I shall wait so impatiently for your answer, so do pray write at once.  I hear some people say that these sort of things are not so much thought of now as they were once, and that all manner of marriages are considered to be comme il faut.  I do not want, you know, to make myself foolish by being too particular.  Perhaps all these changes are bad, and I rather think they are; but if the world changes, one must change too; one can’t go against the world.

’So do write and tell me what you think.  Do not suppose that I dislike the man, for I really cannot say that I do.  But I would not for anything make an alliance for which any one bearing the name of De Courcy would have to blush.

‘Always, dearest Amelia,’
Your most affectionate cousin
’Augusta Gresham.

’PS—­I fear Frank is going to be very foolish with Mary Thorne.  You know it is absolutely important that Frank should marry money.

’It strikes me as quite possible that Mr Mortimer Gazebee may be in Parliament some of these days.  He is just the man for it.’