But stay; Alnaschar, who kicked down the
china, was not a married man; he had cast his eye on the vizier's
daughter, and his hopes of her went to the ground with the shattered
bowls and tea-cups.
"Will you be the vizier's daughter, and refuse and laugh to scorn
Alnaschar, or will you be the Lady of Lyons, and love the penniless
Claude Melnotte? I will act that part, if you like. I will love you my
best in return. I will do my all to make your humble life happy: for
humble it will be: at least the odds are against any other conclusion;
we shall live and die in a poor, prosy, humdrum way. There will be no
stars and epaulets for the hero of our story. I shall write one or two
more stories, which will presently be forgotten. I shall be called
to the bar, and try to get on in my profession: perhaps some day, if I
am very lucky, and work very hard (which is absurd), I may get a
colonial appointment, and you may be an Indian judge's lady. Meanwhile
I shall buy back the Pall Mall Gazette: the publishers are tired of it
since the death of poor Shandon, and will sell it for a small sum.
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