"I do not know anything of a design behind," answered Magdalen, rallying her scattered senses, and then plunging into the main communication with less caution than if she had been fully awake; "but I think, brother, you should get them both married as quickly as you may."
"Both!—what Anthony and Bess?"
"To be sure. Anthony might take Julian at any time; and for Bessie——"
Cleverdon laughed. "I never heard that Bessie had a gallant as yet, and she never had good looks to lure one. If Tony takes a wife that is sufficient."
"No, brother, it is hardly sufficient. He might, if he married, chance to have no children. Besides, it is well to have alliances on all sides. If only I had married——"
"Fernando Crymes," muttered her brother. "You tried hard for him before he took his first wife."
Magdalen tossed and shook her head. "You indeed misunderstand me. You try to provoke me, brother; but I will not be provoked. I am too desirous to advance the family to be browbeat by you and forced to hold silence. Elizabeth is getting forward in years, and she might be the means of alliance to a good family that would help to give ours firmer hold in the position it has won. There is Anthony Crymes, for instance."
"What!—Fox for Bessie? This is sheer folly."
"Yes, Fox. What against him?"
"Nay, naught other against him, save that he does not lay his fancy to Bessie."