'Yes,' said Mary, 'I know he is rich; and a rich man I suppose can buy anything—except a woman that is worth having.'
'A rich man can buy anything,' said the doctor; 'not that I meant to say that Mr. Moffat has bought Miss Gresham. I have no doubt that they will suit each other very well,' he added with an air of decisive authority, as though he had finished the subject.
But his niece was determined not to let him pass so. 'Now, uncle,' said she, 'you know you are pretending to a great deal of worldly wisdom, which, after all, is not wisdom at all in your eyes.'
'Am I?'
'You know you are: and as for the impropriety of discussing Miss Gresham's marriage—'
'I did not say it was improper.'
'Oh, yes, you did; of course such things must be discussed. How is one to have an opinion if one does not get it by looking at the things which happen around us?'
'Now I am going to be blown up,' said Dr. Thorne.
'Dear uncle, do be serious with me.'
'Well, then, seriously, I hope Miss Gresham will be very happy as Mrs. Moffat.'
'Of course you do: so do I. I hope it as much as I can hope what I don't at all see ground for expecting.'
'People constantly hope without any such ground.'
'Well, then, I'll hope in this case. But, uncle—'
'Well, my dear?'
'I want your opinion, truly and really. If you were a girl—'
'I am perfectly unable to give any opinion founded on so strange an hypothesis.'
'Well; but if you were a marrying man.'
'The hypothesis is quite as much out of my way.'
'But, uncle, I am a girl, and perhaps I may marry;—or at any rate think of marrying some day.'
'The latter alternative is certainly possible enough.'
'Therefore, in seeing a friend take such a step, I cannot but speculate on the matter as though I were myself in her place. If I were Miss Gresham, should I be right?'
'But, Minnie, you are not Miss Gresham.'
'No, I am Mary Thorne; it is a very different thing, I know. I suppose I might marry any one without degrading myself.'
It was almost ill-natured of her to say this; but she had not meant to say it in the sense which the sounds seemed to bear. She had failed in being able to bring her uncle to the point she wished by the road she had planned, and in seeking another road, she had abruptly fallen into unpleasant places.
