"I should have told you everything," said Nora to her mother that night. "I had no intention to keep anything a secret from you. But we have all been so unhappy about Louey, that we have had no heart to talk of anything else."
"I understand all that, my darling."
"And I had meant that you should tell papa, for I supposed that he would come. And I meant that he should go to papa himself. He intended that himself,—only, to-day,—as things turned out—"
"Just so, dearest;—but it does not seem that he has got any income. It would be very rash,—wouldn't it?"
"People must be rash sometimes. Everybody can't have an income without earning it. I suppose people in professions do marry without having fortunes."
"When they have settled professions, Nora."
"And why is not his a settled profession? I believe he receives quite as much at seven and twenty as Uncle Oliphant does at sixty."
"But your Uncle Oliphant's income is permanent."
"Lawyers don't have permanent incomes, or doctors,—or merchants."
"But those professions are regular and sure. They don't marry, without fortunes, till they have made their incomes sure."