xclusiveness, she had
resolved to have as little as possible to do with persons who did not
share both with her. She began by repulsing the proffered acquaintance
of many families of great wealth and fashion, who either did not know
their grandparents or were ashamed of them. Having shut herself out of
their circle, she was presented at court, and thenceforth accepted the
invitations of those only who had, in her opinion, a right to the same
honor. And she was far stricter on that point than the Lord Chamberlain,
who had, she held, betrayed his trust by practically turning Leveller.
She was well educated, refined in her manners and habits, skilled in
etiquette to an extent irritating to the ignorant, and gifted with
a delicate complexion, pearly teeth, and a face that would have been
Grecian but for a slight upward tilt of the nose and traces of a square,
heavy type in the jaw. Her father was a retired admiral, with sufficient
influence to have had a sinecure made by a Conservative government
expressly for the maintenance of his son pending alliance with some
heiress. Yet Gertrude remained single, and the admiral, who had formerly
spent more money than he could comfortably afford on her education,
and was still doing so upon her state and personal adornment, was
complaining so unpleasantly of her failure to get taken off his hands,
that she could hardly bear to live at home, and was ready to marry any
thoroughbred gentleman, however unsuitable his age or character, who
would relieve her from her humiliating dependence. She was prepared to
sacrifice her natural desire for youth, beauty, and virtue in a husband
if she could escape from her parents on no easier terms, but she was
resolved to die an old maid sooner than marry an upstart.

The difficulty in her way was pecuniary. The admiral was poor. He
had not quite six thousand a year, and though he practiced the utmost
economy in order to keep up the most expensive habits, he could not
afford to give his daughter a dowry. Now the well born bachelors of
her set, having more blue bood, but much less wealth, than they needed,
admired her, paid her compliments, danced with her, but could not afford
to marry her. Some of them even told her so, married rich daughters of
tea merchants, iron founders, or successful stocktrokers, and then tried
to make matches between her and their lowly born brothers-in-law.

So, when Gertrude met Lady Brandon, her lot was secretly wretched, and