"It will mean more to be you then than it does now," said Nellie darkly.
"Yes, I shall be quite rich. You see, there's no reason why I should work, as aunt is well past seventy."
"But I thought you were going to do something great and wonderful on the railway?"
"That was an idea, but I can't afford to leave the place; that's another secret, Nellie, and I wouldn't tell any one but you. I am so afraid aunt may give away the vases. She's getting a bit queer in her memory too, and she's always giving away things. When I went to see about a job on the railway she sent a lot of my things to a rummage sale. She has given Kezia the bed she sleeps on, and a lot more things; but they all belong to me, and I shall claim them when she dies."
"She has promised me the round table in the parlour," said Nellie.
"Of course I don't mind what she gives you," said George awkwardly.
"Many thanks. Now I must go and put on the kettle for tea. You have told me such a lot about myself."
"Yes, and I've got still more to say. I shall have quite three thousand pounds—and my tastes are very simple. I don't expect much, and I don't ask for much. It's my own belief that I can put up with almost anybody."
"Now I'm in for it!" Nellie murmured, with a scorching glance at the somewhat dejected figure in the garden.
"I have always flattered myself," George rambled on, with the feeling that eloquence had come to him at last, "I can get along anyhow with anyone."