He guessed
my thoughts.
"What do you think of me?" he asked, smiling. "Will you back me for a
place? I have advantages, you must allow--and worldly advantages too.
They are not rich people at all."
"My dear Isaacs, I will back you to win. But as far as 'worldly
advantages' are concerned, do not trust to wealth for a moment. Do not
flatter yourself that there will be any kind of a bargain, as if you
were marrying a Persian girl. There is nothing venal in that young
lady's veins, I am sure."
"Allah forbid! But there is something very venal in the veins of Mr.
Currie Ghyrkins. I propose to carry the outworks one by one. He is her
uncle, her guardian, her only relation, save her brother. I do not think
either of those men would be sorry to see her married to a man of
stainless name and considerable fortune."
"You forget your three incumbrances, as you called them last night."
"No--I do not forget them. It is allowed me by my religion to marry a
fourth, and I need not tell you that she would be thenceforth my only
wife."
"But would her guardian and brother ever think of allowing her to take
such a position?"
"Why not? You know very well that the English in general hardly consider
our marriages to be marriages at all--knowing the looseness of the bond.
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