"I sent that wire to Miss Grimshaw," said Mr. Dashwood, "telling her that Garryowen has won."
"That's right," said French.
"Look here," said Mr. Dashwood, "I'm just going to write to her. We won't be able to get back to The Martens till the day after to-morrow, with this Giveen business on hand, so I'm going to write to her and tell her straight out that—that, well, as a matter of fact, that I want her to marry me. I'm going to tell her that she knows me now as well as ever she'll know me, and that if she doesn't like the business, I'm game, and can take her answer and still be friends. We'll all be friends, whatever happens, she and I and you; but I think it's best to make the position clear as soon as possible, for we can't go on like this. And a letter is the best way to do it."
CHAPTER XXXII
"You're right," said French. "Faith, the horse has nearly driven everything else out of my mind. It's a queer business the way that girl come to my house and saved my fortune. I tell you straight, she put the come'ither on me so that I'd follow her through the black bog itself, if she beckoned me, with both eyes shut. She's a jewel, begad, she's a jewel! Look, now, at what she's done for me—saved and scraped, put me on an allowance of pocket-money—she did that—kept the house together; and it was she put the idea of taking the horse away from Drumgool into my head. Then, again, only for her you would never have come about the place, and what have you done? Why, you've saved me twice and three times over. My dear boy," burst out French, seizing Mr. Dashwood's hand, "it's you that's been the making of me, for if you hadn't nobbled that black beast of a Giveen, I'd have been done for entirely, and I hope she'll have you and make you happy."
"It's all a toss up," said Mr. Dashwood, as he wrung French's hand. "You never know what a woman will do, and, I tell you this, if she chucks me, and if you—if you—well, as a matter of fact, if you marry her, I'll forget I ever cared for her, and we'll all be friends just as we've always been."
"You say you are going to write to her?"