“Yes,” said Ida.
“Very well then, I come to tell you both that I am ready to find the money to meet those mortgages and to pay them off in full.”
“Ah!” said the Squire.
“Also that I am ready to do what I offered to do before, and which, as my father is now dead, I am perfectly in a position to do, namely, to settle two hundred thousand pounds absolutely upon Ida, and indeed generally to do anything else that she or you may wish,” and he looked at the Squire.
“It is no use looking to me for an answer,” said he with some irritation. “I have no voice in the matter.”
He turned to Ida, who put her hand before her face and shook her head.
“Perhaps,” said Edward, somewhat bitterly, “I should not be far wrong if I said that Colonel Quaritch has more to do with your change of mind than the fact of the transfer of these mortgages.”
She dropped her hand and looked him full in the face.
“You are quite right, Mr. Cossey,” she said boldly. “Colonel Quaritch and I are attached to each other, and we hope one day to be married.”
“Confound that Quaritch,” growled the Squire beneath his breath.