Julia went to it. "I should think there is," she said, and turned it up, and turn it down, and altered the wicks, until she had improved matters a little.
"I'm afraid your father's having larks," Johnny said, watching her.
"It's rather a pity if he is," Julia answered; "he has got to see some one on business to-morrow."
"Who?"
"Mr. Frazer, a clergyman who wants to marry Violet."
Mr. Gillat sat upright. "Dear, dear!" he exclaimed. "No? Really?" and when Julia had given him an outline of the circumstances, he added softly, "A wonderful woman! I always had a great respect for your mother." From which it is clear he thought Mrs. Polkington was to be congratulated. "And when is it to be?" he asked.
"Violet says a year's time; they could not afford to marry sooner and do it properly, but it will have to be sooner all the same."
"A year is not a very long time," Mr. Gillat observed; "they go fast, years; one almost loses count of them, they go so fast."
"I dare say," Julia answered, "but Violet will have to get married without waiting for the year to pass. We can't afford a long engagement."
Mr. Gillat looked mildly surprised and troubled; he always did when scarcity of money was brought home to him, but Julia regarded it quite calmly.