She blushed painfully.
“I beg your pardon; I forgot. I will look out of the window.”
“Don’t be a fool; look like other people. But now I want to speak to you. In the first place, I find that the household expenditure for the last year was three hundred and fifty pounds. That is more than I can afford; it must not exceed three hundred this year.”
“I will do my best to keep the expenses down, father; but I can assure you that there is no money wasted now.”
Then came a pause, which, after humming and hawing a little, Philip was the first to break.
“Do you know that I saw your cousin George yesterday? He is back at last at Isleworth.”
“Yes, Pigott told me that he had come. He has been away a long while.”
“When did you last see him?”
“When I was about thirteen, I believe; before he lost the election, and went away.”
“He has been down here several times since then. I wonder that you did not see him.”