Yet such is the respect paid to
money in these degenerate days that many a one will court the
society of a person like that, who would think me or your cousin
Godfrey unworthy of notice, because we have no longer a tithe of
the property the family once possessed."
The lady forgot there is a Rimmon as well as a Mammon.
"God knows," she went on, "how that woman's husband made his
money! But that is a small matter nowadays, except to old-
fashioned people like myself. Not _how_ but _how much_,
is all the question now," she concluded, flattering herself she
had made a good point.
"Don't think me rude, please, aunt: I am really wishing to
understand--but, if Mrs. Cropper is not a lady, how can Mary
Marston not be one? She is as different from Mrs. Croppor as one
woman can be from another."
"Because she has not the position in society," replied Mrs.
Wardour, enveloping her nothing in flimsy reiteration and self-
contradiction.
"And Mrs. Cropper has the position?" ventured Letty, with a
little palpitation from fear of offending.
"Apparently so," answered Mrs. Wardour. But her inquiring pupil
did not feel much enlightened. Letty had not the logic necessary
to the thinking of the thing out; or to the discovery that, like
most social difficulties, hers was merely one of the upper strata
of a question whose foundation lies far too deep for what is
called Society to perceive its very existence.
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