Mrs. Clinton took her dismissal and Virginia her seat in a low chair by the bed, facing him.
"Look here," he said; "no good beating about the bush any longer. We're very good friends now, and I hope we shall remain so all our lives. But there's no good disguising that we've been at cross-purposes, and I want all that put right now. Let's look facts in the face. It was more my fault than yours, I dare say, but there have been faults on both sides, and we shan't gain anything by pretending that we've all behaved as we ought to have done."
"You're quite right," said Virginia, smiling at him. "I'll listen to anything you have to say, and you might begin by telling me where my fault has been."
"Eh! what!" exclaimed the Squire. "Well, I suppose you won't deny that you came down here to steal a march on me?"
"I wanted to know you," said Virginia sweetly. "I knew I should love you if I did. And I was quite right. I do know you now, and I do love you, better than any other man, except Dick."
The Squire thought this a very pretty speech, and, as it came from a very pretty woman, its effect on him was beneficial. "Well, you have taken a liking to me," he said, "and I have taken a liking to you. So we're quits, and it's a pity both of us didn't do it before, for I tell you frankly I have made certain promises which I shouldn't have made if I had felt about you as I do now, and I don't quite see how I can get out of them."
"You mean about money?" said Virginia. "Dear Mr. Clinton, please don't worry any more about that. Dick and I have got over whatever disappointment we may have felt about it—I never felt any at all except for his sake—long ago. He has been lucky in getting this job, and we shall be as comfortable as possible."
"This job!" repeated the Squire, with much distaste of the word. "Dick oughtn't to be wanting a job at all, and he won't be wanting one now. He must give it up."
"I don't think he will do that at once," said Virginia. "He will consider himself bound, for a time at least, to Mr. Spence. However, that needn't worry you. We shall hope to be here a good deal, if you want us, and later on we may be able to be here, or hereabouts, altogether, if you still want us."
"Of course I want you," said the Squire. "I've wanted Dick all along, in the place to which he belongs; I've never felt comfortable about Humphrey taking his place, and as for my Lady Susan, I shall be very pleased to welcome her as a daughter-in-law, but, if you want the truth, my dear, you're worth six of her, and if you can't live here, well, I won't have her, and that's flat. I'll keep the place empty."