L. Frank Baum

“ The harsh, cutting voice was that of his wife, and the Professor shrank back in his chair.
"Your sister Jane is a mean, selfish, despicable old female," he muttered. "You've said so a thousand times yourself, Julia."
"My sister Jane is a very wealthy woman, and she's a Merrick," returned the lady, severely. "How dare you—a common De Graf—asperse her character?"
"The De Grafs are a very good family," he retorted.
"Show me one who is wealthy! Show me one who is famous!" ”

“ It's in my nature to be dreadfully wicked and cruel and selfish, and perhaps the money isn't worth the risk I run of becoming depraved."
"Elizabeth!"
"Good-bye; I'm late now," she continued, in the same quiet tone, and walked slowly down the walk.
The Professor twisted his moustache and looked into his wife's eyes with a half frightened glance.
"Beth's a mighty queer girl," he muttered.
"She's very like her Aunt Jane," returned Mrs. De Graf, thoughtfully gazing after her daughter. "But she's defiant and wilful enough for all the Merricks put together. ”

“ When she was a girl she inherited from Thomas Bradley, the man she was engaged to marry, and who was suddenly killed in a railway accident, more than a quarter of a million dollars, besides that beautiful estate of Elmhurst. I don't believe Jane has even spent a quarter of her income, and the fortune must have increased enormously. Elizabeth will be one of the wealthiest heiresses in the country! ”