"What's the character of that gentleman?" Osmond asked of Isabel after he had retired.
"Irreproachable—don't you see it?"
"He owns about half England; that's his character,"Henrietta remarked. "That's what they call a free country!"
"Ah, he's a great proprietor? Happy man!" said Gilbert Osmond.
"Do you call that happiness—the ownership of wretched human beings?" cried Miss Stackpole."He owns his tenants and has thousands of them. It's pleasant to own something, but inanimate objects are enough for me. I don't insist on flesh and blood and minds and consciences."