n and mine. I
may add, too, that Henry has talent--'

'Which Edmund certainly has not,' said Mrs Merdle, with the greatest
suavity.

'--and that his talent, combined with disappointment,' Mrs Gowan went
on, 'has led him into a pursuit which--ah dear me! You know, my dear.
Such being Henry's different position, the question is what is the most
inferior class of marriage to which I can reconcile myself.'

Mrs Merdle was so much engaged with the contemplation of her arms
(beautiful-formed arms, and the very thing for bracelets), that she
omitted to reply for a while. Roused at length by the silence, she
folded the arms, and with admirable presence of mind looked her friend
full in the face, and said interrogatively, 'Ye-es? And then?'

'And then, my dear,' said Mrs Gowan not quite so sweetly as before, 'I
should be glad to hear what you have to say to it.'

Here the parrot, who had been standing on one leg since he screamed
last, burst into a fit of laughter, bobbed himself derisively up and
down on both legs, and finished by standing on one leg again, and
pausing for a reply, with his head as much awry as he could possibly
twist it.

'Sounds mercenary to ask what the gentleman is to get with the lady,'
said Mrs Merdle; 'but Society is perhaps a little mercenary, you know,
my dear.'

'From what I can make out,' said Mrs Gowan, 'I believe I may say that
Henry will be relieved from debt--'

'Much in debt?' asked Mrs Merdle through her eyeglass.

'Why tolerably, I should think,' said Mrs Gowan.

'Meaning the usual thing; I understand; just so,' Mrs Merdle observed in
a comfortable sort of way.

'And that the father will make them an allowance of three hundred
a-year, or perhaps altogether something more, which, in Italy-'

'Oh! Going to Italy?' said Mrs Merdle.

'For Henry to study. You need be at no loss to guess why, my dear.

That dreadful Art--'

True. Mrs Merdle hastened to spare the feelings of her afflicted friend.
She understood. Say no more!

'And that,' said Mrs Gowan, shaking her despondent head, 'that's all.
That,' repeated Mrs Gowan, furling her green fan for the moment, and
tapping her chin with it (it was on the way to being a double chin;
might be called a chin and a half at present), 'that's all! On the death
of the old people, I suppose there will be more to come; but how it may
be restricted or locked up, I don't know. And as to that, they may live
for ever. My dear, they are just the k