"I am too much taken up with you at present, madam."
"Ah, you Irishmen, with your blarney. Well, Charity is in the dining-room with Mr. Macandrew. She is showing him some new photographs of herself, so will not be here for a few minutes, which is just as well."
"Why?" asked Gerald, taking the seat she indicated.
Mrs. Pelham Odin throned herself queenlike on a sofa. "What do you think of Mr. Macandrew?" she asked abruptly.
"He is the best fellow in the world," replied Haskins promptly, for he guessed why she asked the question, and was willing to act as Tod's trumpeter, "also he is very clever, and some day will be wealthy."
"Charity wants to marry him."
"And he wants to marry Charity. My dear lady, I knew that years ago."
Mrs. Pelham Odin nodded. "Of course, it is stale news. All the same, I asked you here to chat over the matter. Hitherto, I have set my face against such a marriage, as the match is not a good one for my girl."
Gerald dissented. "If Miss Bird marries Macandrew she is a lucky young lady, to my mind. He is of good family; he is clever; he has a good profession; and he is an honest man. Certainly he has no money, but----"
"That's just it," interrupted the other, "he has come in lately for a legacy of two thousand pounds. That is something, but not much. Still, Charity is so bent upon this marriage, that--if you can really swear to all you say about Mr. Macandrew--I am willing to consent."