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Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville), 1881-1975

"A Man of Means"

The man is not
conspicuously vulgar. The man does not eat peas with his knife. The man
pronounces his aitches with meticulous care and accuracy. The man,
moreover, is worth rather more than a quarter of a million pounds. I
repeat, you are childish!"
"Yes, I know he's a very decent little chap, Father," said Lady Eva.
"It's not that at all."
"I should be gratified, then, to hear what, in your opinion, it is."
"Well, do you think I could be happy with him?"
Lady Kimbuck gave tongue. She was Lord Evenwood's sister. She spent a
very happy widowhood interfering in the affairs of the various branches
of her family.
"We're not asking you to be happy. You have such odd ideas of
happiness. Your idea of happiness is to be married to your cousin
Gerry, whose only visible means of support, so far as I can gather, is
the four hundred a year which he draws as a member for a constituency
which has every intention of throwing him out at the next election."
Lady Eva blushed. Lady Kimbuck's faculty for nosing out the secrets of
her family had made her justly disliked from the Hebrides to Southern
Cornwall.


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