'Do you imagine, then, that I have come over here to ensnare some poor
unprotected nobleman--with a display of tact? Oh dear me! As if tact had
anything to do with it! Never, never, never, Lady Willow! I wouldn't
marry an Englishman if he were the last man left on earth.'
'Many Englishmen are very nice, my dear,' protested Lady Willow gently,
with a deep sigh, for she thought of her own husband, who, having been
all his life an irreclaimable reprobate, had commanded her utmost
affection while he lived, and was the object of her tenderest regret now
that he had taken his departure from a world that had never appreciated
his talents; although its influence was, in the estimation of the widow,
entirely to blame for those shortcomings which Sir Debenham had been
unable to conceal.
'And yet,' continued Jennie inconsequently, as she buttoned her glove,
'I do adore a title; I wonder why that is? I suppose no woman is ever at
heart a republican, and if the United States is to be wrecked, it is the
women who will do the wrecking, and start a monarchy. I have no doubt
the men would let us proclaim an empire now if they imagined it would
please us.'
"I thought you were all sovereigns over there already,' said Lady Willow.
'Oh, we are, but that's just the trouble. There is too much competition
in the queen business; there are too many of us, and so we exchange our
sovereignty for the lesser titles of duchesses and countesses and all
that.
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