And after that they forgot all the troubles of the past and sat weaving delicious plans for the future, and enjoying to the full the happy present.
The next day Ralph rejoined the company in the Isle of Wight and in the evening, when supper was over, he with some trepidation told his story to the Manager.
Macneillie had of late been very silent and depressed and Ralph hated having to speak of his own happiness to one who was in the depths of dejection. However with an effort he broke the ice.
“I saw Miss Ewart’s new guardian Mr. Hereford in town,” he began, “and it seems that almost the whole of her fortune has been lost by that swindling trustee of hers. She has nothing left but a couple of hundred a year which luckily was tied up and out of Sir Matthew’s reach.”
“The scoundrel!” exclaimed Macneillie, “so he had the audacity to put her fortune into his rotten companies I suppose?”
“Yes. However it’s an ill wind that blows nobody good. The fortune is gone but so is Sir Matthew, and the new guardian permits our engagement and sees no reason why it should be a long one, he is distantly related to the Lord Chancellor and thinks he will consent to our being married shortly.”
“And what does Miss Ewart say? have you heard from her?”
“I have seen her, she was passing through London on her way to Ireland. Well, she talked very sensibly about the money, had hoped it might be useful to us, but chiefly looked on it in my fashion as a hindrance to our immediate marriage now safely removed.”
Macneillie’s grave face was suddenly convulsed with merriment. He laughed aloud at this view of the case.
“Was there ever such a couple of babies!” he said. “Pray how do you mean to live?”