"Yes, uncle. She is the sister of a count who is a great friend of mine, and I am sure you will say, when you see her, that she is a most charming young lady. She is a year younger than I am, and is reasonably endowed with the world's goods."
His aunt was the first to rally from her astonishment. "It sounds very nice, Arthur," she said, "and I have no doubt that we shall congratulate you very much when we get to know her; but of course it has come as a little shock to us."
"I expected it would, aunt. I know that English people are prejudiced against foreigners. Of course, I have been living in Spain for six years, and have got over any ideas of that sort."
"But is she a Catholic, Arthur?" his aunt asked in rather an awed tone.
"All Spanish ladies are Catholics, aunt; but as this particular one is by no means a bigoted one, we are not likely to quarrel over it. She already speaks English well, and I can assure you that you will find her charming."
"And you say she has a fortune?"
"Yes, she has about twenty-five thousand pounds in her own right."
"Well, that is comfortable; anyhow, you will not do badly in the money way. Your own estate was worth about one thousand pounds a year, but as it has been accumulating since you were ten years old, and as I have always invested the rents carefully, it will bring you in about as much more."
"That is not bad at all, uncle; and I may add that I have twenty thousand pounds of my own lying to my order at the Bank of Liverpool."
"Twenty thousand, Arthur! Why, how in the world did you get that?"