"If he has been wrong, he will beg your pardon."
"If he has been wrong! Didn't he want to squander every shilling of the property,—property which has never belonged to him;—property which I could give to Tom, Dick, or Harry to-morrow, if I liked?—If he has been wrong!"
"I am not defending him, sir;—but I thought that, perhaps, on such an occasion as this—"
"A Tom Fool's occasion! You've got money of your own. He'll spend all that now."
"He will be less likely to do so if you will recognise him as your heir. Pray believe, sir, that he is not the sort of man that he was."
"He must be a very clever sort of man, I think, when he has talked you out of such a husband as John Grey. It's astounding to me,—with that ugly mug of his! Well, my dear, if your father approves of it, and if George will ask my pardon,—but I don't think he ever will—"
"He will, sir. I am his messenger for as much as that."
"Oh, you are, are you? Then you may also be my messenger to him, and tell him that, for your sake, I will let him come back here. I know he'll insult me the first day; but I'll try and put up with it,—for your sake, my dear. Of course I must know what your father thinks about it."
It may be imagined that Kate's success was even less than that which Alice achieved. "I knew it would be so," said John Vavasor, when his niece first told him;—and as he spoke he struck his hand upon the table. "I knew all along how it would be."
"And why should it not be so, Uncle John?"