“And how? for that, I own, is a matter would puzzle me considerably.”
“It will all depend upon her. She must give the key-note to the concert. If she please to be very courteous and affable, and all the rest of it, talk generalities and avoid all questions of real interest, I must accept that tone, and follow it If she be disposed to enter upon private and personal details, I have only to be a listener, except she give me an opportunity to speak out regarding the marriage.” “And you will?”
“That I will. I suspect, shrewdly, that she is mistaken about our circumstances, and confounds May Leslie's means with ours. Now, when she knows that my father has about five hundred a year in the world for everything, it is just possible that she may rue her bargain, and cry 'off.'”
“Scarcely, I think,” said Agincourt. “The marriage would give her station and place at once, if she wants them.”
“What if O'Shea were to supplant Sir William? I half suspect he would succeed. He hasn't a sixpence. It's exactly his own beat to find some one willing to support him.”
“Well, I 'll back myself to get him a place. I 'll not say it will be anything very splendid or lucrative, but something he shall have. Come, Charley, leave this to me. Let O'Shea and myself dine tête-à-tête to-day, and I 'll contrive to sound him on it.”
“I mean to aid you so far, for I know my father would take it ill were I to dine away from home,—on the first day too; but I own I have no great confidence in your plan, nor any unbounded reliance on your diplomacy.”
“No matter, I'll try it; and, to begin, I'll start at once with a letter to Downing Street I have never asked for anything yet, so I 'll write like one who cannot contemplate a refusal.”
“I wish you success, for all our sakes,” said Charles; and left him.
END OF VOL. I. [ [!-- H2 anchor --] ]