“Well—it looks like it, though how you should have guessed it is queer enough. It never came into my mind, often as I saw them together. Is it from any thing your sister has said?”
“May has said nothing to me—nothing.”
“I acknowledge that I am surprised. I should not have supposed that he was at all the man to be taken with a girl like May. If it had been you now—”
“Are you pleased, papa? Will you let him come? And would you give him May?”
“May must decide that for herself. All that he asks now is my leave to come and speak for himself. He does not wish any thing to be said to her till he says it himself.”
“And will you let him come?” asked Jean gravely.
“Well, I think he has a right to be heard. Yes, I think we must let him come.”
“Is Mr Manners a rich man, papa?”
“A rich man? I should say not. Indeed he tells me as much as that. He has a professional income, enough to live comfortably upon. He is a scholar and a gentleman, and money is a secondary consideration.”
“Yes—if every thing else is right,” said Jean a little surprised. She had not supposed that in any case, money would be a secondary consideration with her father.