At last she sat down blushing, and wrote a little note, and rang the bell for Sarah, and sent it courageously into the dining-room.
Sarah very prudently listened at the keyhole before entering, for she said to herself, “If they are talking free, I shan't go in till it's over.”
The persons so generously suspected were discussing a parchment Alfred had produced, and wanted signed: “You are our trustee, my boy,” said he to Edward: “so just write your name here, and mine comes here, and the witness's there: the Doctor and Sarah will do. Send for a pen.”
“Let's read it first, please.”
“Read it! What for?”
“Catch me signing a paper without reading it, my boy.”
“What, can't you trust me?” inquired Alfred, hurt.
“Oh yes. And can't you trust me?”
“There's a question: why I have appointed you my Trusty in the Deed; he, he.”
“Well then trust me without my signing, and I'll trust you without reading.”