This was a question which he certainly had not expected. "I don't know how that may be," he said frowning.
"We were told here in Dillsborough that it was all settled. I hope I haven't asked an improper question."
"Of course people will talk."
"If it's only talk I beg pardon. Whatever concerns Bragton is interesting to me, and from the way in which I heard this I thought it was a certainty. Patagonia;—well! You don't want an assistant private secretary I suppose? I should like to see Patagonia."
"We are not allowed to appoint those gentlemen ourselves."
"And I suppose I should be too old to get in at the bottom. It seems a long way off for a man who is the owner of Bragton."
"It is a long way."
"And what will you do with the old place?"
"There's no one to live there. If you were married you might perhaps take it." This was of course said in joke, as old Mrs. Morton would have thought Bragton to be disgraced for ever, even by such a proposition.
"You might let it."