ou always had. I
sometimes wonder if some of our grandmothers (for even if we didn't
have grandfathers we must have had grandmothers), if some _one_ of
them--hope not _two_--didn't make a wee slip once when royal personages
were about! Of course there is no use boasting of royal blood in one's
veins when it has no business there, but that would account for certain
things. You may remember the old portrait of mother's mother. She
looked a perfect duchess. Helen can have a title if she wants it. I
might as well tell you now. Please find out all you can for me about
young Lord ----. He will be Duke of ---- when his father or some one
dies; so find out if you can, too, how long you think it will probably
be before he becomes a duke. And is he rich or poor? He needn't be
rich, but I don't want to think it's Helen's money he's after. I'm
doing all I can to bring about the match, and yet I'm not so worldly
after all as to want a daughter of mine to make a loveless marriage.
Helen isn't exactly pretty, but she's extremely attractive. Her figure
is perfect, and she's the most stylish thing in the world. I am very
happy today as I think that I have _lanceed_ her in the best New York
can offer. It has not been all downhill work. Her father's name
entitled her to it; but he hated society, so he was more of a drawback
than anything else. I couldn't boast of any social position in Buffalo,
and it's extraordinary how well that was known here. However, the fact
of my being of a good, sterling, unpretentious family did help in the
end, when I got started, and people saw I was serious about "getting
in." Of course, you gave us our first big push forward, you darling. An
_entree_ into smart English society doesn't mean so much for a New
Yorker nowadays as it used to, but it means a good deal. And a
sister-in-law of Lord Glenwill is a desirable person to know when in
London, so it is wise to take her up at home, and I, always having
Helen's future in mind, took advantage of every possibility. Perhaps I
shouldn't have had to push my way so much here if the Prince of Wales
were still _making_ an American girl each season, but you know for
several years now he seems to have given it up. I think he was
discouraged by the last two he made at Homburg; neither of them had any
success here the following winter, "hall-marked" as they were, and even
London hasn't found them husbands yet.

Of course, as to one of them, I remember the gossip you wrote