 by themselves or their predecessors to Lady
Clavering's father, were mentioned as sources of her wealth. Her account at her
London banker's was positively known, and the sum embraced so many ciphers as to
create as many O's of admiration in the wondering hearer. It was a known fact
that an envoy from an Indian Prince, a Colonel Altamont, the Nawaub of Lucknow's
prime favourite, an extraordinary man, who had, it was said, embraced
Mahometanism, and undergone a thousand wild and perilous adventures, was at
present in this country, trying to negotiate with the Begum Clavering the sale
of the Nawaub's celebrated nosering diamond, »the light of the Dewan.«
    Under the title of the Begum, Lady Clavering's fame began to spread in
London before she herself descended upon the capital. And as it has been the
boast of Delolme, and Blackstone, and all panegyrists of the British
Constitution, that we admit into our aristocracy merit of every kind, and that
the lowliest-born man, if he but deserve it, may wear the robes of a peer, and
sit alongside of a Cavendish or a Stanley; so it ought to be the boast of our
good society, that, haughty though it be, naturally jealous of its privileges,
and careful who shall be admitted into its circle, yet, if an individual be but
rich enough, all barriers are instantly removed, and he or she is welcomed, as
from his wealth he merits to be. This fact shows our British independence and
honest feeling - our higher orders are not such mere haughty aristocrats as the
ignorant represent them: on the contrary, if a man have money, they will hold
out their hands to him, eat his dinners, dance at his balls, marry his
daughters, or give their own lovely girls to his sons, as affably as your
commonest roturier would do.
    As he had superintended the arrangements of the country mansion, our friend,
the Chevalier Strong, gave the benefit of his taste and advice to the
fashionable London upholsterers who prepared the town house for the reception of
the Clavering family. In the decoration of this elegant abode, honest Strong's
soul rejoiced as much as if he had been himself its proprietor. He hung and
re-hung the pictures, he studied the positions of sofas, he had interviews with
wine merchants and purveyors who were to supply the new establishment; and at
the same time the Baronet's factotum and confidential friend took the
opportunity of furnishing his own chambers, and stocking his snug little cellar:
his friends
