"What do you mean?" said Hugh.
"I think I shall go down, and ask her to take myself."
"Do you mean it in earnest?"
"I do," said Brooke. "Of course, I hadn't a chance when I was there. She told me—"
"Who told you;—Dorothy?"
"No, your aunt;—she told me that Mr. Gibson was to marry your sister. You know your aunt's way. She spoke of it as though the thing were settled as soon as she had got it into her own head; and she was as hot upon it as though Mr. Gibson had been an archbishop. I had nothing to do then but to wait and see."
"I had no idea of Dolly being fought for by rivals."
"Brothers never think much of their sisters," said Brooke Burgess.
"I can assure you I think a great deal of Dorothy," said Hugh. "I believe her to be as sweet a woman as God ever made. She hardly knows that she has a self belonging to herself."
"I am sure she doesn't," said Brooke.