"
"And could he be better provided, as you call it, in
that respect, than ourselves?" asked Miss Henly, a
little reproachfully.
"Oh no, surely not; now if he were a woman, how
soon would he be married!--why, child, they say he
is worth at least three hundred thousand dollars!--
he'd be a bride in a month!"
"And miserable, perhaps, in a year," said Charlotte;
"it is fortunate for him that he is a man, by your
tale, or his wealth might purchase misery for him."
"Oh! no one can be miserable that is well married,"
cried Maria; "Heigho! the idea of old-maidism is too
shocking to think about!"
"Why does not Mr. Delafield get married, then, if
marriage be so very desirable?" said Miss Henly,
smiling at the customary rattle of her companion:
"he can easily get a wife, you say?"
{rattle = trivial chatter}
"It is the difficulty of choosing--there are so many
attentive to him--"
"Maria!"
"Mercy! I beg pardon of female delicacy!--but since
the young man has returned from his travels, he
has been so much--much courted--nay, by the old
people, I mean--and the girls beckon him about so-
-and it's Mr. Delafield, have you read Salmagundi?--
and, Mr. Delafield, have you seen Cooke?--and, Mr.
Delafield, do you think we shall have war?--and
have you seen Bonaparte? And, in short, Mr.
Delafield, with his handsome person, and three
hundred thousand dollars, has been so much of all-
in-all to the ladies, that the man has never time to
choose a wife!"
{Salmagundi = a series of comic essays (1819-
1820) by New York City writer James Kirke Paulding
(1778-1860), emulating an earlier series by
Washington Irving and others; Cooke = probably
Thomas Potter Cooke (1786-1864), a noted English
actor; Bonaparte = Napoleon Bonaparte died on St.
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