But already
she had said enough to arouse the young man into a defender of the
girl he loved.
"I think your language quite too strong, mother," he said, with a
reproving tone in his voice. "Miss Irving is good, gifted, amiable,
beautiful, beside being young and full of health. I am sure there
could be nothing shocking or dreadful in any man's uniting his
destiny with such a being, in case he was fortunate enough to win
her. The fact that she is poor, and not of illustrious lineage, is
but a very worldly consideration. Mr Irving was a most intelligent
and excellent man, even if he was a grocer. The American idea of
aristocracy is grotesquely absurd at the best. A man may spend his
time and strength in buying and selling things wherewith to clothe
the body, and, if he succeeds, his children are admitted to the
intimacy of princes; but no success can open that door to the
children of a man who trades in food, wherewith to sustain the body.
We can none of us afford to put on airs here in America, with
butchers and Dutch peasant traders only three or four generations
back of our 'best families.' As for me, mother, remember my loved
father was a broker. That would damn him in the eyes of some people,
you know, cultured gentleman as he was."
Mrs Stuart sat very still, breathing hard and trying to gain control
of herself for some moments after her son ceased speaking.
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