"Sudden!" Rupert swung round his chair and looked puzzled. "How can it be sudden after my being engaged for twenty-four months?"
"I only mean, Mr. Hendle, that I should have thought it necessary for you to consider the matter carefully for six months before fixing the day. Marriage, Mr. Hendle, is a serious matter."
"It is a very delightful matter, Mrs. Beatson, considering who the lady is."
"Ah!" Mrs. Beatson crossed her hands and cast up her eyes with a melancholy expression, "so we all say until we are married. I suppose, Mr. Hendle, you intend to give me notice?"
"Indeed, I intend to give you nothing of the sort," said Rupert bluffly. "All the difference will be that my wife will give you orders instead of me."
Mrs. Beatson looked as though this would make a very great difference indeed, as she much preferred to have a master than a mistress. All the same, she looked relieved when she learned that her situation was not in danger. "I am glad to stay on, Mr. Hendle," she said, with the air of making a concession. "I look on The Big House as in some sense my home."
"That's all right. Continue to look upon it as your home, until Kit marries Miss Tollart and you go to live with them."
"Pardon me, Mr. Hendle," said Mrs. Beatson with icy scorn; "but you little know my nature when you suggest such a thing. I don't approve of Sophy Tollart, whose views regarding our sex are anything but pacific. Besides, young people rarely take the advice of those who are older and wiser than they are; consequently, it is best for them to live by themselves. Would you like Mr. Mallien to dwell at The Big House when you wed with his daughter?"
"Good Lord, no," replied Hendle hastily. "It is the last thing either I or Miss Mallien would desire. We can manage our own affairs."
"So you think, Mr. Hendle; but the mistakes you will make will be endless."