"Amelia, how can you be so silly?" said the mother.
"If you think I'm going to put up with that kind of thing, you're mistaken," said Amelia. She had got not only a lover but a husband in prospect, and was much superior to her cousin,—who had neither one or the other, as far as she was aware. "Mr. Juniper, with an excellent house and a plentiful income, is quite good enough for me, though he hasn't got any regal ancestors." She did not intend to laugh at her father, but was aware that something had been said about ancestors by her cousin. "A gentleman who has the management of horses is almost the same as owning them."
"But when is it to be?" again asked Dolly.
"That depends a little upon my brother," said Mrs. Carroll, in a voice hardly above a whisper. "Mr. Juniper has spoken about a day."
"Then it will depend chiefly on himself and the young lady, I suppose?"
"Well, Dorothea, there are money difficulties. There's no denying it."
"I wish I could shower gold into her lap," said Mr. Carroll, "only for the accursed conventionalities of the world."
"Bother, papa!" said Sophia.
"It will be the last of it, as far as I am concerned," said Amelia.
"Mr. Juniper has said something about a few hundred pounds," said Mrs. Carroll. "It isn't much that he wants."