Your mother's softness stopped one prospect, or you might have been a
general, like our gallant ancestor who fought at Ramillies and
Malplaquet. I had another plan in view: my excellent and kind friend,
Lord Bagwig, who is very well disposed towards me, would, I have little
doubt, have attached you to his mission at Pumpernickel, and you might
have advanced in the diplomatic service. But, pardon me for recurring to
the subject; how is a man to serve a young gentleman of eighteen, who
proposes to marry a lady of thirty, whom he has selected from a booth in
a fair?--well, not a fair,--a barn. That profession at once is closed to
you. The public service is closed to you. Society is closed to you. You
see, my good friend, to what you bring yourself. You may get on at the
bar to be sure, where I am given to understand that gentlemen of merit
occasionally marry out of their kitchens; but in no other profession. Or
you may come and live down here--down here, mon Dieu! for ever" (said the
Major, with a dreary shrug, as he thought with inexpressible fondness of
Pall Mall), "where your mother will receive the Mrs.
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