"What about that house as ye've so kindly chosen for me?" he asked, genially. He wanted to humour her.
She looked him straight in the eyes. "You've seen it," said she.
"What!" he snorted. "When han I seen it?"
"Just now," she replied. "It's Wilbraham Hall. I knew that Mrs. Prockter wouldn't have it. And, besides, I've made Emanuel give up all idea of it."
He laughed, but with a strange and awful sensation in his stomach.
"A poor joke, lass!" he observed, with the laugh dead in his throat.
"It isn't a poor joke," said she. "It isn't a joke at all."
"Didst thou seriously think as I should buy that there barracks to please thee?"
"Certainly," she said, courageously. "Just that—to please me."
"I'm right enough where I am," he asserted, grimly. "What for should I buy Wilbraham Hall? What should I do in it?"