Old Osborne thought she would be a great match, too, for his son. He

should leave the army; he should go into Parliament; he should cut a

figure in the fashion and in the state. His blood boiled with honest

British exultation, as he saw the name of Osborne ennobled in the

person of his son, and thought that he might be the progenitor of a

glorious line of baronets. He worked in the City and on 'Change, until

he knew everything relating to the fortune of the heiress, how her

money was placed, and where her estates lay. Young Fred Bullock, one

of his chief informants, would have liked to make a bid for her himself

(it was so the young banker expressed it), only he was booked to Maria

Osborne. But not being able to secure her as a wife, the disinterested

Fred quite approved of her as a sister-in-law. "Let George cut in

directly and win her," was his advice. "Strike while the iron's hot,

you know--while she's fresh to the town: in a few weeks some d----

fellow from the West End will come in with a title and a rotten

rent-roll and cut all us City men out, as Lord Fitzrufus did last year

with Miss Grogram, who was actually engaged to Podder, of Podder &

Brown's. The sooner it is done the better, Mr. Osborne; them's my

sentiments," the wag said; though, when Osborne had left the bank

parlour, Mr. Bullock remembered Amelia, and what a pretty girl she was,

and how attached to George Osborne; and he gave up at least ten seconds

of his valuable time to regretting the misfortune which had befallen

that unlucky young woman.

While thus George Osborne's good feelings, and his good friend and

genius, Dobbin, were carrying back the truant to Amelia's feet,

George's parent and sisters were arranging this splendid match for him,

which they never dreamed he would resist.

When the elder Osborne gave what he called "a hint," there was no

possibility for the most obtuse to mistake his meaning. He called

kicking a footman downstairs a hint to the latter to leave his service.

With his usual frankness and delicacy he told Mrs. Haggistoun that he

would give her a cheque for five thousand pounds on the day his son was

married to her ward; and called that proposal a hint, and considered it

a very dexterous piece of diplomacy. He gave George finally such

another hint regarding the heiress; and ordered him to marry her out of

hand, as he would have ordered his butler to draw a cork, or his clerk

to write a letter.

This imperative hint disturbed George a good deal. He was in the very

first enthusiasm and delight of his second courtship of Amelia, which

was inexpressibly sweet to him. The contrast of her manners and

appearance with those of the heiress, made the idea of a union with the

latter appear doubly ludicrous and odious. Carriages and opera-boxes,

thought he; fancy being seen in them by the side of such a mahogany

charmer as that! Add to all that the junior Osborne was quite as

obstinate as the senior: when he wanted a thing, quite as firm in his

resolution to get it; and quite as violent when angered, as his father

in his most stern moments.




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