He was excessively careful whom he knew, what women he danced with, what houses he visited; and any of his acquaintances who cared to ascertain their own social status to a hair's-breadth had only to apply to it the touchstone of Captain Pratt's manner towards them.
Hester, who grasped many facts of that kind, was always amused by the cold consideration with which he treated her on his rare visits to the parental Towers; and which his sisters could only construe as a sign that "Algy was gone on Hessie." "But he will never marry her," they told each other.

"Algy looks higher." It was true.

If Hester had been Lady Hester, it is possible that the surname of Pratt, if frequently refused by stouter women, might eventually have been offered to her.

But Captain Pratt was determined to marry rank, and nothing short of a Lady Something was of any use to him.

An Honorable was better than nothing, but it did not count for much with him.