"To be sure I will," said Grigson.
And then he went on to explain that the arrangement had been made between the parents on either side at the instance of the grandfather, and when the boy and girl were mere children, that they should yoke together when they became man and woman.
"You see," continued Tom Grigson, "there's a good deal of property involved, and the business firm to be kept up, and it isn't wanted to go out of the family."
"And your brother Richard—Tom's uncle—what does he say to this bargain? Is he a party to it?" asked John.
"No, he won't have anything to do with it, he says, being an old bachelor himself."
"And what do your Tom and his cousin think of this convenient arrangement?" John wanted to know.
"Oh, they are agreeable enough. The girl is willing to have Tom for a husband, she says; and strange if she were not, for he is the right sort of fellow to make a good husband, and good enough looking, into the bargain. As to young Tom, he is agreeable, he says, if he must marry, though he doesn't see any occasion for it; but if he must, Blanche Elliston will do as well as any other. That's what he says. The worst of it is, his cousin is a couple of years older than he; but that can't be helped; and perhaps she hasn't the sweetest temper in the world. But we all have something to put up with, you know, John."
"Please don't say any more about it, Tom," said Tincroft, quietly. "You know your own business best, dear friend, and how to bring up a family. How, indeed, should I know anything at all about it?" pondered John, with a sigh.
Perhaps Grigson was not unwilling to let the subject drop, for he turned the conversation. But during the rest of the drive home, John was uncommonly silent, and on reaching the gate of the Manor House, he alighted.
"The dinner-bell won't ring yet for an hour," said he; "I have to make arrangements with Walter Wilson about our coming journey. So I'll take a stroll to Low Beech before turning in."