“He needs money badly.”
“But he won’t marry unless he’s actually to get it,” replied she. “Almost every American who has married a daughter over here has tried to make a business bargain—at least, a bargain not altogether one-sided. Not one of them has succeeded. These Europeans have been handling the dowry and settlement question too many centuries.”
“I see,” said I affably. “If we want what they’ve got, we have to take it on their terms.”
It was most satisfactory, talking with her now that she consented to speak and listen to good sense. I was at once in a more amiable frame of mind, although I knew she had descended from her high horse only because she was shrewd enough to see it was the one way to get me to do as she wished.
“I will hide behind a go-between myself,” said I.
“Any English lawyer would simply play into the hands of the other side. At least, so Hilda was telling me.”
“Is she happy?”
“Very.”
“When’s her husband coming back?”
“Not for a year or so, I believe. Lord Blankenship cares more for big game and for exploring than for anything else.”