“And so you see, dear Augustus, each of my sisters will receive an equal portion of my father’s estate, and if it would be any help to you, I should be only too glad to give you one of them in marriage.”
Admirably meant, however, as was this offer, and obviously one of considerable value, few could have blamed me, I think, for the instinctive shudder with which I was obliged at first to postpone an answer. Nor was he one of them.
“In fact I never supposed,” he said, “that you could immediately bring yourself to accept. And I fully appreciate that, had I been in your position, my gesture of repulsion would have been equally violent. But at the same time I thought it might be useful to you to know that they would be there to fall back upon.”
I stared at him.
“To fall back upon?” I asked.
Colouring deeply, he held out his hand.
“I was speaking metaphorically,” he said. “I beg your pardon.”
“Conceded,” I replied. “But it was an unpleasant idea.”
“And an ill-chosen phrase,” he said. “All that I meant was that they would be there for you to select from.”
“Do you mean all of them?” I asked.