"Why not?" said the squire. "I have even offered to settle the property on him if he will leave the service."
"You do not owe him so much as you would owe your son; and, therefore, he does not owe you as much as he would owe his father."
"If you mean that I cannot constrain him, I know that well enough. As regards money, I have offered to do for him quite as much as any father would feel called upon to do for an only son."
"I hope you don't think me ungrateful," said Bernard.
"No, I do not; but I think you unmindful. I have nothing more to say about it, however;—not about that. If you should marry—" And then he stopped himself, feeling that he could not go on in Bell's presence.
"If he should marry," said Mrs. Dale, "it may well be that his wife would like a house of her own."
"Wouldn't she have this house?" said the squire, angrily. "Isn't it big enough? I only want one room for myself, and I'd give up that if it were necessary."
"That's nonsense," said Mrs. Dale.
"It isn't nonsense," said the squire.
"You'll be squire of Allington for the next twenty years," said Mrs. Dale. "And as long as you are the squire, you'll be master of this house; at least, I hope so. I don't approve of monarchs abdicating in favour of young people."