Richard laughed.
‘I suppose you mean, had he ever money? No, he’s made himself what he is.’
Tea having supplied the place of the more substantial evening meal, Richard and his sister had supper about ten o’clock. Alice drank champagne; a few bottles remained from those dedicated to the recent festival, and Mutimer felt the necessity of explaining the presence in his house of a luxury which to his class is more than anything associated with the bloated aristocracy. Alice drank it for the first time in her life, and her spirits grew as light as the foam upon her glass. Brother and sister were quietly confidential as midnight drew near.
‘Shall you bring her to London?’ Alice inquired, without previous mention of Adela.
‘For a week, I think. We shall go to an hotel, of course. She’s never seen London since she was a child.’
‘She won’t come to Highbury?’
‘No. I shall avoid that somehow. You’ll have to come and see us at the hotel. We’ll go to the theatre together one night.’
‘What about ‘Arry?’
‘I don’t know. I shall think about it.’
Digesting much at his ease, Richard naturally became dreamful.