"Oh, that's rot. Caroline was married over two months ago. If he had fixed it up then we should have known about it by this time."
"They agreed to keep it to themselves for a bit. You'll hear soon enough."
"Did my Governor tell you that, or Ella Carruthers?"
"There's no need to play the ass, George. Everybody knows it's settled. Vera mentioned it in the last letter she wrote to me. Mrs. Carruthers has gone up to London, to be near your Governor. He's working rather hard at present, and can't be at Abington as much as he was."
Young George knew that his father was rather tied to the Bank, as two of his partners were away. Jimmy's knowledge of this fact impressed him. "Is she keen on him?" he asked.
"Thinks about nobody else."
"How can you possibly know that? I wish you'd chuck pretending to be God Almighty, and just be little Jimmy Beckley. Barbara wants to know what we think, and what's really happening."
"Well, she's come to the right quarter then. I haven't said anything before, because I didn't know you'd tumbled to it. But I do know more about it than most. There's a cousin of ours who is dead keen on her, and she won't look at him."
"Who is he?"