mystery. I insist upon knowing.
Who is Mr Brehgert, Lady Monogram?'

'Mr Brehgert is a--very wealthy gentleman. That is all I know of him.
Perhaps, Georgiana, you will be glad to be alone with your father.'
And Lady Monogram left the room.

Was there ever cruelty equal to this! But now the poor girl was forced
to speak,--though she could not speak as boldly as she had written.
'Papa, I wrote to mamma this morning, and Mr Brehgert was to come to
you to-morrow.'

'Do you mean that you are engaged to marry him?'

'Yes, papa.'

'What Mr Brehgert is he?'

'He is a merchant.'

'You can't mean the fat Jew whom I've met with Mr Melmotte;--a man old
enough to be your father!' The poor girl's condition now was certainly
lamentable. The fat Jew, old enough to be her father, was the very man
she did mean. She thought that she would try to brazen it out with her
father. But at the present moment she had been so cowed by the manner
in which the subject had been introduced that she did not know how to
begin to be bold. She only looked at him as though imploring him to
spare her. 'Is the man a Jew?' demanded Mr Longestaffe, with as much
thunder as he knew how to throw into his voice.

'Yes, papa,' she said.

'He is that fat man?'

'Yes, papa.'

'And nearly as old as I am?'

'No, papa,--not nearly as old as you are. He is fifty.'

'And a Jew?' He again asked the horrid question, and again threw in
the thunder. On this occasion she condescended to make no further
reply. 'If you do, you shall do it as an alien from my house. I
certainly will never see him. Tell him not to come to me, for I
certainly will not speak to him. You are degraded and disgraced; but
you shall not degrade and disgrace me and your mother and sister.'

'It was you, papa, who told me to go to the Melmottes.'

'That is not true. I wanted you to stay at Caversham. A Jew! an old
fat Jew! Heavens and earth! that it should be possible that you should
think of it! You;--my daughter,--that used to take such pride in
yourself! Have you written to your mother?'

'I have.'

'It will kill her. It will simply kill her. And you are going home
to-morrow?'

'I wrote to say so.'

'And there you must remain. I suppose I had better see the man and
explain to him that it is utterly impossible. Heavens on earth;--a
Jew! An old fat Jew! My daughter! I will take you down home myself
to-morrow. What have I done that I should be punished by my children in
this way