When the family dinner was over, there were numerous callers at the house in Pierrepont Street. Among them there was an elderly gentleman named Long, who was treated with marked civility by Mr. Linley.
When he had left the house, and Tom and Betsy were alone, the former, after referring to some of the visitors, inquired:
“Who is that old gentleman whom you called Mr. Long?”
“He is nothing in particular; that is why I am going to marry him,” said she.
CHAPTER V
Apparently Tom was not greatly startled by the declaration which his sister had made to him. He was screwing up a new string which he had just put on his violin, and he continued twanging it with his thumb as he raised it to the proper note in the scale. She watched him, with his head slightly turned to one side, and she heard the string creep up by quarter-tones until at last it satisfied his fastidious ear. Then he played pizzicato on all the strings for a while before he said:
“He is an old man, is he not?”
“He is the man whom I am going to marry,” said she.