“Come, uncle,” said Guy affectionately, “you won’t refuse us? We all live together in the cottage now, but we don’t quite fill it; there is still one room to spare, and my wife will be delighted to—”
“Your wife!” exclaimed Denham in amazement.
“Yes, uncle,” replied Guy in some surprise. “Did you not get our cards?”
Mr Denham rested his forehead again in his hand in some confusion, for he remembered having received a letter long ago, the address of which he knew to be in his nephew’s hand, and supposing it to be an application to be taken back into the office, he had tossed it into the fire without opening it. Feeling much perplexed, he said— “Oh, ah,—what is the lady’s name?”
“Lucy Burton was her maiden name,” said Guy; “she is the daughter of an Independent minister, who was formerly a scripture-reader in Ramsgate.”
“Humph!” ejaculated Denham. “Pray, may I ask what your profession is now?”
“I am cashier in the office of a very intimate friend of ours—Mr Summers.”
“What! the house with which we do so much business?”
“The same,” said Guy with a smile; “but tell me, uncle, will you come and stay with us? Do say you will, if it were only for a week or two.”
“I’ll think of it, nephew.”