“I hope you may think as much when you find yourself cut out of my uncle’s Will by a brat in her image!” said Mr. Westruther viciously.
“An unlikely contingency!” said the Rector.
“On the contrary, nothing could be more likely! My uncle is not in his dotage, as well we know; and if the Fish is much above forty, I have been strangely misinformed!”
Kitty could not repress a giggle. “Oh, dear, how ridiculous it would be! I must go to Arnside as soon as I may.”
“Let that be immediately!” said Mr. Westruther.
“It cannot be immediately, Jack! I told you that we were all in an uproar here! I have been so stupid, and if poor Dolph’s plans are overset through it I shall never, never forgive myself!”
“That ain’t so,” interrupted Miss Plymstock, who had been engaged in quietly explaining to Lord Dolphinton the meaning of a dialogue that was rather too swift for him to follow. “It’s my blame, Miss Charing, and don’t you think I shall be trying to lay it at your door, for that I shall never do!”
“Oh, Jack!” said Kitty distressfully. “Never mind about Uncle Matthew for a moment! I brought Dolph and Miss Plymstock here, so that Hugh might marry them, and I was such a goose that I forgot—at least, I never knew, and that is stupider than anything! Hugh says they must have a special licence, and they have not got one!”
“In that case,” said Mr. Westruther, “you have wasted your time. May I suggest that you waste no more time, but that you turn your mind instead to—”
“Jack, if they must have a licence, could not you get it for them? Are such things to be procured in London? Do they, perhaps, cost a great deal of money?”