But to the girl the matrimony which is or is not to be her destiny contains within itself the only success or failure which she anticipates.

The young man may become Lord Chancellor, or at any rate earn his bread comfortably as a county court judge.

But the girl can look forward to little else than the chance of having a good man for her husband;--a good man, or if her tastes lie in that direction, a rich man.

Emily Wharton had doubtless thought about these things, and she sincerely believed that she had found the good man in Ferdinand Lopez.
The man, certainly, was one strangely endowed with the power of creating a belief.

When going to Mr.Wharton at his chambers he had not intended to cheat the lawyer into any erroneous idea about his family, but he had resolved that he would so discuss the questions of his own condition, which would probably be raised, as to leave upon the old man's mind an unfounded conviction that in regard to money and income he had no reason to fear question.