"
"Made his fortune, yes," Ethel continued, "that is the cry. There never
were, since the world began, people so unblushingly sordid! We own it,
and are proud of it. We barter rank against money, and money against
rank, day after day. Why did you marry my father to my mother? Was it for
his wit? You know he might have been an angel and you would have scorned
him. Your daughter was bought with papa's money as surely as ever Newcome
was. Will there be no day when this mammon-worship will cease among us?"
"Not in my time or yours, Ethel," the elder said, not unkindly; perhaps
she thought of a day long ago before she was old herself.
"We are sold," the young girl went on, "we are as much sold as Turkish
women; the only difference being that our masters may have but one
Circassian at a time. No, there is no freedom for us. I wear my green
ticket, and wait till my master comes. But every day as I think of our
slavery, I revolt against it more. That poor wretch, that poor girl whom
my brother is to marry, why did she not revolt and fly? I would, if I
loved a man sufficiently, loved him better than the world, than wealth,
than rank, than fine houses and titles,--and I feel I love these best,--I
would give up all to follow him.
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