"I come on Miss Driver's behalf. As you are probably aware, your son Lord Lacey has done Miss Margaret Octon the honor of making her a proposal of marriage. Miss Octon is in the position of being under Miss Driver's care—I may perhaps call her her ward—and Miss Driver is anxious to know whether Lord Lacey's proposal has your approval."
"Has it Miss Driver's approval?" he asked.
"Most cordially—provided it has yours. Further than that she wouldn't wish to go without knowing your views."
He spoke slowly and deliberately. "You and I have approached this subject before—incidentally, Mr. Austin. I have little doubt that you gathered from that conversation that I had had another idea in my mind?"
"Yes, I rather understood that—from what you let fall."
"That idea was entirely erroneous, I suppose? Or, at all events, if ever entertained, is abandoned now?"
We had already got on to delicate ground. "The situation seems to speak for itself, Lord Fillingford. And I'm sure that the arrangement now proposed has always been desired by Miss Driver."
"Miss Driver has a very great influence over my son, I think," he remarked.
"I don't think she would wish to deny that she has favored this arrangement so far as she properly and legitimately could. She was naturally desirous of promoting Miss Octon's happiness. If in other respects the marriage was a very desirable one—well, she was entitled to think of that also."
"You consider that Miss Octon's feelings are deeply engaged in this matter?"