Edward gave vent to a low whistle. "May I ask the lady's name?"
"Miss Hermia Rivers. I don't think you are acquainted with her, but you may, perhaps, have heard of her existence. She is niece to John Brancker, and lives with him at Nairn Cottage."
Edward Hazeldine's jaw dropped a little, and he sat staring at his brother for a few moments without speaking. "John Brancker's niece!" he exclaimed presently, but not as if addressing himself to Clem.
"What is there to be surprised at, may I ask?" queried the latter, with just a shade of annoyance in his voice.
"Has the young lady any dowry--any fortune of her own?"
"Not one penny," was Clem's emphatic reply.
"Hum! That's rather a pity, is it not, when there are so many well-to-do young ladies in Ashdown--you know how scarce eligible men are in these small provincial towns--among whom, and I say it with no wish to flatter you, you might have your pick and choice."
"That may or may not be the case, but seeing that there is not one among the young ladies in question whom I have any wish to make my wife, there is no need to drag them into the question."
"I was not aware that you were in a position to marry," said Edward, coldly; "that is to say, to marry anyone who has nothing but herself to bring you."
"I simply said that I was engaged to be married," rejoined Clem equably. "I mentioned no date for the ceremony. In all probability it won't take place for a couple of years at the soonest, by which time I hope to be in a position which will render my marriage with a portionless girl not quite such an imprudence as you seem, and perhaps rightly, to think it would be now. Till that time comes," he added, smilingly, "I will refrain from asking you to congratulate me."