at Lopez, he thought that he detected Jewish signs, but he was afraid to make any allusion to religion, lest Lopez should declare that his ancestors had been noted as Christians since St James first preached in thePeninsula.
‘I was educated altogether in England,’ continued Lopez, ‘till I was sent to a German university in the idea that the languages of the Continent are not generally well learned in this country; – I can never be sufficiently thankful to my guardian for doing so.’
‘I dare say; – I dare say. French and German are very useful. I have a prejudice of my own in favour of Greek and Latin.’
‘But I rather fancy I picked up more Greek and Latin at Bohn than I should have got here, had I stuck to nothing else.’
‘I dare say; – I dare say. You may be an Admirable Crichton for what I know.’
‘I have not intended to make any boast, sir, but simply to vindicate those who had the care of my education. If you have no objection except that founded on my birth, which is an accident –’
‘Whenone man is a peer and another a ploughman, that is an accident. One doesn’t find fault with the ploughman, but one doesn’t ask him to dinner.’
‘But my accident,’ said Lopez smiling, ‘is one which you would hardly discover unless you were told. Had I called myself Talbot you would not know but that I was as good an Englishman as yourself.’
‘A man of course may be taken in by falsehoods,’ saidthe lawyer.
‘If you have no other objection than that raised, I hope you will allow me to visit in Manchester Square.’
‘There may be ten thousand other objections, Mr Lopez, but I really think that the one is enough. Of course I know nothing of my daughter’s feelings. I should imagine that the matter is as strange to her as it is to me. But I cannot give you anything like encouragement. If Iam ever to have a son-in-law, I should wish to have an English son-in-law. I do not even know what your profession is.’
‘I am engaged in foreign loans.’
‘Very precarious I should think. A sort of gambling, isn’t it?’
‘It is the business by which many of the greatest mercantile houses in the city have been made.’
‘I dare say; – I dare say; – and by which they come to ruin. I have the greatestrespect in the world for mercantile enterprise, and have had as much to do as most men with mercantile questions. But I ain’t sure that I wish to marry my daughter in the City. Of course it’s all prejudice. I won’t deny that on general subjects I can give as much latitude as any man; but when one’s own hearth is attacked –’
‘Surely such a position as mine, Mr Wharton, is no attack!’
‘In my senseit is. When a man proposes to assault and invade the very kernel of another man’s heart, to share with him, and indeed to take from him, the very dearest of his possessions, to become part and parcel with him either for infinite good or infinite evil, then a man has a right to guard even his prejudices as precious bulwarks.’ Mr Wharton as he said this was walking about the room with his handsin his trousers pockets. ‘I have always been for absolute toleration in matters of religion, – have always advocated admission of Roman Catholics and Jews into Parliament, and even to the Bench. In ordinary life I never question a man’s religion. It is nothing to me whether he belives in Mahomet, or has no belief at all. But when a man comes to me for my daughter –’
‘I have always belonged tothe Church of England,’ said Ferdinand Lopez.
‘Lopez is at any rate a bad name to go to a Protestant church with, and I don’t want my daughter to bear it. I am very frank with you, as in such a matter men ought to understand each other. Personally I have liked you well enough, and have been glad to see you at my house. Everett and you have seemed to be friends, and I have had no objection tomake. But marrying into a family is a very serious thing indeed.’
‘No man feels that
‘I was educated altogether in England,’ continued Lopez, ‘till I was sent to a German university in the idea that the languages of the Continent are not generally well learned in this country; – I can never be sufficiently thankful to my guardian for doing so.’
‘I dare say; – I dare say. French and German are very useful. I have a prejudice of my own in favour of Greek and Latin.’
‘But I rather fancy I picked up more Greek and Latin at Bohn than I should have got here, had I stuck to nothing else.’
‘I dare say; – I dare say. You may be an Admirable Crichton for what I know.’
‘I have not intended to make any boast, sir, but simply to vindicate those who had the care of my education. If you have no objection except that founded on my birth, which is an accident –’
‘Whenone man is a peer and another a ploughman, that is an accident. One doesn’t find fault with the ploughman, but one doesn’t ask him to dinner.’
‘But my accident,’ said Lopez smiling, ‘is one which you would hardly discover unless you were told. Had I called myself Talbot you would not know but that I was as good an Englishman as yourself.’
‘A man of course may be taken in by falsehoods,’ saidthe lawyer.
‘If you have no other objection than that raised, I hope you will allow me to visit in Manchester Square.’
‘There may be ten thousand other objections, Mr Lopez, but I really think that the one is enough. Of course I know nothing of my daughter’s feelings. I should imagine that the matter is as strange to her as it is to me. But I cannot give you anything like encouragement. If Iam ever to have a son-in-law, I should wish to have an English son-in-law. I do not even know what your profession is.’
‘I am engaged in foreign loans.’
‘Very precarious I should think. A sort of gambling, isn’t it?’
‘It is the business by which many of the greatest mercantile houses in the city have been made.’
‘I dare say; – I dare say; – and by which they come to ruin. I have the greatestrespect in the world for mercantile enterprise, and have had as much to do as most men with mercantile questions. But I ain’t sure that I wish to marry my daughter in the City. Of course it’s all prejudice. I won’t deny that on general subjects I can give as much latitude as any man; but when one’s own hearth is attacked –’
‘Surely such a position as mine, Mr Wharton, is no attack!’
‘In my senseit is. When a man proposes to assault and invade the very kernel of another man’s heart, to share with him, and indeed to take from him, the very dearest of his possessions, to become part and parcel with him either for infinite good or infinite evil, then a man has a right to guard even his prejudices as precious bulwarks.’ Mr Wharton as he said this was walking about the room with his handsin his trousers pockets. ‘I have always been for absolute toleration in matters of religion, – have always advocated admission of Roman Catholics and Jews into Parliament, and even to the Bench. In ordinary life I never question a man’s religion. It is nothing to me whether he belives in Mahomet, or has no belief at all. But when a man comes to me for my daughter –’
‘I have always belonged tothe Church of England,’ said Ferdinand Lopez.
‘Lopez is at any rate a bad name to go to a Protestant church with, and I don’t want my daughter to bear it. I am very frank with you, as in such a matter men ought to understand each other. Personally I have liked you well enough, and have been glad to see you at my house. Everett and you have seemed to be friends, and I have had no objection tomake. But marrying into a family is a very serious thing indeed.’
‘No man feels that
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