He was saying to me just now that he wondered why Lopez does not go into the House;--that he would be sure to get a seat if he chose, and safe to make a mark when he got there." "I dare say he could get into the House.

I don't know any well-to-do blackguard of whom you might not predict as much.

A seat in the House of Commons doesn't make a man a gentleman as far as I can see." "I think every one allows that Ferdinand Lopez is a gentleman." "Who was his father ?" "I didn't happen to know him, sir." "And who was his mother?
I don't suppose you will credit anything because I say it, but as far as my experience goes, a man doesn't often become a gentleman in the first generation.

A man may be very worthy, very clever, very rich,--very well worth knowing, if you will;--but when one talks of admitting a man into close family communion by marriage, one would, I fancy, wish to know something of his father and mother." Then Everett escaped, and Mr.Wharton was again left to his own meditations.

Oh, what a peril, what a trouble, what a labyrinth of difficulties was a daughter! He must either be known as a stern, hard-hearted parent, utterly indifferent to his child's feelings, using with tyranny the power over her which came to him only from her sense of filial duty,--or else he must give up his own judgment, and yield to her in a matter as to which he believed that such yielding would be most pernicious to her own interests.
Hitherto he really knew nothing of the man's means;--nor, if he could have his own way, did he want such information.