"I call that an infernal interference," he said to his aunt, showing her Imogene's letters.
"My dear Frank, you need not curse and swear," said the old lady.
"Infernal is not cursing nor yet swearing." Then Miss Houston, having liberated her mind by her remonstrance, proceeded to read the letter. "I call that abominable," said Frank, alluding of course to the allusions made in the letter to Mudbury Docimer.
"It is a beautiful letter;—just what I should have expected from Imogene. My dear, I will tell you what I propose. Remain as you are both of you for five years."
"Five years. That's sheer nonsense."
"Five years, my dear, will run by like a dream. Five years to look back upon is as nothing."
"But these five years are five years to be looked forward to. It is out of the question."
"But you say that you could not live as a married man."
"Live! I suppose we could live." Then he thought of the cabbages and the cottage at Pau. "There would be seven hundred a-year I suppose."
"Couldn't you do something, Frank?"