A natural question leapt to Brendon's lips, but he restrained it. He wanted to ask, "And shall you take him?" but resisted the burning temptation. This news, however, was a source of very active disquiet. He drank his tea, and was glad when Gregory Friend broke the silence.
"And you'll do well to think twice afore you say 'yes,' Sarah Jane. A successful and a church-going man. A good son, I believe, and honest—as honesty goes in towns. But——"
"I'd never get a husband if I waited for you to find one, faither."
"Perhaps not. Good husbands are just as rare as good wives."
"Then—then perhaps Sunday after——?" persisted Brendon, whose mind had not wandered far from the mam proposition.
"Perhaps," answered Sarah Jane. "You'm burning to hear tell what I shall say to the castle-keeper—ban't 'e now?"
"Who wouldn't be—such a fateful thing! But I know my manners better than to ax, I hope."
"I don't know what I'm going to say," declared she. "D'you know Jarratt Weekes?"
"No, I don't."
"Does anybody to Ruddyford?"