"Indeed I have; and I have wondered sometimes whether I should ever see you. Then—did you know my mother, Miss Upton?"
"I did; in the old days when we were girls together. Has she never told you so?"
"Not to my recollection."
"I see. Resented our resentment, and dropped us out of her life as we dropped her," commented Miss Upton partly to herself, as she sat down again. "What a tinkering they keep up there! Is your mother living?"
"Yes; but she is an invalid."
"Is it you who are about to marry Lord Acorn's daughter?" continued Miss Upton.
"Yes. I have just come from them."
"I knew the name was Grubb, and that he was a City man and wealthy," she candidly continued; "and the thought occurred to me that it might possibly be the son of the Christopher Grubb I heard something of in early life. I did not put the question to the Acorns."
"It is by them I have heard you spoken of," he remarked. "Also by my sister."
"By your sister!" exclaimed Miss Upton, in surprise. "What sister? What does she know of me?"