Annabel was sober again.
'Do you often go and see him at his house?' she asked, speaking of Grail.
'I am going on Friday night. I have not been since that one occasion which I mentioned in a letter to Mr. Newthorpe. I had to write to him yesterday about the repair of the house he is going to live in, and in his reply this morning he asked me to come for an hour's talk.'
'You were curious, father told me, about the wife he had chosen. Have you seen her yet?'
'Yes. She is quite a young girl.'
He was looking at a far-off sail, and as he replied his eyes kept the same direction. Annabel asked no further question. Egremont laughed before he spoke again.
'How absurdly one conjectures about unknown people I suppose it was natural to think of Grail marrying someone not quite young and very grave.'
'But I hope she is grave enough to be his fitting companion?'
He opened his lips, but altered the words he was about to speak.
'I only saw her for a few minutes—a chance meeting. She impressed me favourably.'