'So I'm told.'
'You've known Miss Jakes for some time?'
'For almost all my life,' said Franklin, with his calm and candid smile.
'Oh, old friends, then. You come from Boston, too, perhaps?'
'Well, I come from the suburbs, in the first place, but I've been in the hub itself for a long time now,' said Franklin. 'Yes, I'm a very old friend of Miss Jakes's. I'm very much attached to her.'
'Ah, and are you pleased with the match?'
'It seems to please Althea, and that's the main thing. I think Mr. Digby will make her happy; yes, I'm pleased.'
'Yes,' said Miss Buchanan meditatively. 'Yes, I suppose Gerald Digby will make a pleasant husband. He's a pleasant creature. I've always considered him very selfish, I confess; but women seem to fall in love with selfish men.'
Franklin received this ambiguous assurance with a moment or so of silence, and then remarked that marriage might make Mr. Digby less selfish.
'You mean,' said Miss Buchanan, 'that she's selfish too, and won't let him have it all his own way?'