Honora came in, delighted at her boy’s visit, and well pleased at the manner in which he was engrossed. Two such children needed no chaperon, and if that sweet crescent moon were to be his guiding light, so much the better.
‘Capital girl, that,’ he said, as she left the room. ‘This is a noble achievement of yours.’
‘In getting my youngest princess out of the castle. Ay! I do feel in a beneficent enchanter’s position.’
‘She has grown up much prettier than she promised to be.’
‘And far too good for a Fulmort. But that is Robert’s doing.’
‘Poor Robert! how he shows the old distiller in grain. So he is taking to the old shop?—best thing for him.’
‘Only by way of experiment.’
‘Pleasant experiment to make as much as old Fulmort! I wish he’d take me into partnership.’
‘You, Owen?’
‘I am not proud. These aren’t the days when it matters how a man gets his tin, so he knows what to do with it. Ay! the world gets beyond the dear old Hiltonbury views, after all, Sweet Honey, and you see what City atmosphere does to me.’