Since her marriage she had never said a word to him about her money,--unless it were to ask that something out of the common course might be spent on some, generally absurd, object.

But now had come the time for squandering money.

She was not only rich but she had a popularity that was exclusively her own.

The new Prime Minister and the new Prime Minister's wife should entertain after a fashion that had never yet been known even among the nobility of England.
Both in town and country those great mansions should be kept open which were now rarely much used because she had found them dull, cold, and comfortless.

In London there should not be a Member of Parliament whom she would not herself know and influence by her flattery and grace,--or if there were men whom she could not influence, they should live as men tabooed and unfortunate.