Without waiting for a word in answer, the old gentleman rung for his carriage and departed, leaving the Right Hon. the Earl of Trimmerstone in a very disagreeable position.
As soon as Mr. Martindale had departed, the Right Honorable began to think again most soberly and seriously of his perplexities and embarrassments. He made a great variety of calculations, but none of them were definite or satisfactory. The figures and the sums whirled round and round in his head, and all was confusion. He scarcely knew, nor could he by any means make out, whether or not he was solvent. He knew nothing more of his own affairs than that he was solicited for money which he could not pay; and when by any contrivance he could put off the time of payment, that postponement set him at rest for the time being.
There was no one with whom he could consult. He had not a single friend in the world on whose good counsel he could rely. As for Sir Gilbert Sampson, he was afraid or ashamed to mention to him a word on the subject; and indeed there had been lately a great coolness between them, arising from the very negligent behaviour of his Lordship to the Countess. And she, who should have been his best friend and most confidential adviser, had very little capacity or inclination for prudential and deliberate thought.
When noblemen and gentlemen marry for the sake of money, they ought always to take especial care that they have money enough: for it is much better to suffer many disadvantages from pecuniary deficiency, and to remain unmarried, than to marry one who has not money enough to answer all purposes. Ladies with small fortunes may not thank us for this remark; but they will, on second thoughts, consider that such a husband as the Right Hon. the Earl of Trimmerstone is not worth having. It is not unlikely that his lordship would, had the law allowed him so to do, have married another wife for the sake of pecuniary aid, and have deserted the daughter of Sir Gilbert Sampson. Perhaps it might be an improvement in the system of accommodating legislation, if hereditary legislators would allow themselves the privilege of marrying two or more wives, provided these wives were all of plebeian extraction; by such means a greater number of city people might purchase nobility for their daughters, and the estates of the titled be relieved from many of their embarrassments. But legislation is not our present subject; so to proceed.