"Of course he would buy Joey a living, and make large presents
yearly to his sister- was there anything else? Oh! yes- he would
become a county magnate now; a man with nearly L4,000 a year should
certainly become a county magnate. He might even go into Parliament.
He had very fair abilities, nothing indeed approaching such genius
as Dr. Skinner's nor even as Theobald's, still he was not deficient
and if he got into Parliament- so young too- there was nothing to
hinder his being Prime Minister before he died, and if so, of
course, he would become a peer. Oh! why did he not set about it all at
once, so that she might live to hear people call her son 'my lord'-
Lord Battersby she thought would do very nicely, and if she was well
enough to sit he must certainly have her portrait painted at full
length for one end of his large dining-hall. It should be exhibited at
the Royal Academy: 'Portrait of Lord Battersby's mother,' she said
to herself, and her heart fluttered with all its wonted vivacity. If
she could not sit, happily, she had been photographed not so very long
ago, and the portrait had been as successful as any photograph could
be of a face which depended so entirely upon its expression as her
own.
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