'Hm. How much loss?'
'Not much. A thousand or two.'
Mr. Falkirk went no further into the subject, or into any other, till the dessert had been taken away and he was fingering the nuts. Mr. Falkirk took no dessert. And in the midst of cracking a hard nut, effort availed to crack something else.
'Do we go to town this winter, Miss Hazel?'
'I have taken no thought whatever about the winter, sir.'
'Do you intend to stay here?'
'I thought we agreed, sir, to let the winter question wait?'
'I made no such agreement, Miss Hazel. On the contrary, if we let the question wait, there will be no house to receive you when you make up your mind to go.'
'Then we will wait.'
'No, Miss Hazel, if you please I will have your decision. If it makes no difference to you, it makes some to me. Either here or New Yorkbut you must say which.'