"Oh, Bee!"
"Not immediately, but when Brat is able to travel."
"You're taking Brat there? Oh, yes, of course you must go! Oh, that is a wonderful idea, Bee. It solves such a lot of problems, doesn't it? But can you afford it? Shall I lend you money for it?"
"No, Uncle Charles is doing that. Lovely to think of Charles supporting horses, isn't it? You'll need all you have to pay death duty, my dear. Mr. Sandal has broken it to the Bank that the place belonged to Simon all the time."
"What shall we do about letting people know about Brat? I mean, about his not being Patrick."
"I don't think we'll have to do anything about it. The facts will inevitably ooze. They always do. I think we just do nothing to prevent the leak. The fact that we are making him part of the family instead of starting prosecutions and things will take a lot of the fun out of it for the scandal-mongers. We'll survive, Nell. And so will he."
"Of course we will. And the first time someone mentions it boldly to me, I shall say: 'My cousin? Yes, he did pretend to be my brother. He is very like Patrick, isn't he? As if we were discussing cream-cakes. " She paused a moment and then added: "But I should like the news to get round before I'm too old to marry him."
"Are you thinking of it?" Bee said, taken aback.
"I'm set on it."
Bee hesitated; and then decided to let the future take care of itself.