Saltash made an elaborate gesture. "I shall bestow my blessing with both hands."
Larpent looked at him fixedly for a few seconds. "You're a very wonderful man, my lord," he remarked drily at length.
Saltash laughed. "Have you only just discovered that?"
Larpent drained his tumbler gravely and put it down. "All the same, I don't believe it will come off," he said.
Saltash moved impatiently. "You always were an unbeliever. But anyone can see they were made for each other. Of course it will come off."
"You want it to come off?" asked Larpent.
"It is my intention that it shall," said Saltash royally.
"You're playing providence in the girl's interest. Is that it?" Again Larpent's eyes, shrewd and far-seeing, were fixed upon him. They held a glint of humour. "It's a tricky job, my lord. You'll wish you hadn't before you've done."
"Think so?" said Saltash.
"If you haven't begun to already," said Larpent.