Edward mused on a society so curious that rich and poor should be just the same.
"Well, I'm going to have lots of wives," he said, with his first show of defiance, "and I'm going to have fifty children."
David's jaw dropped. He felt it useless to argue against an ambition so monstrous.
"Mother will give us the dickens if we don't go to sleep," he said, and blew out the lamp.
The family rose early. The slight estrangement between the two boys had been composed by Edward's tales of the Tatar hunting park; in the congenial topic of leopards the boys found mutual interest and Edward restored himself in David's eyes by describing his bow and his feats of archery.
From the first daylight the girls had resumed talking. They put their questions more discreetly, being of a better age to appreciate Nancy's history. But they were more curious than their brother about the domestic intricacies of Timothy Herrick's life and on the glamorous subject of concubines relished every detail they could extract from Nancy's willing lips. The guest was amused at the importance they attached to such commonplace matters.
"But what will you do?" came at last the inevitable question. "Surely you won't marry a Chinese."
"I don't know," said Nancy; "my father hasn't decided. I'm not engaged yet."
"Your father!" the two girls shouted in concert; "are you going to let your father decide?"
"Yes, certainly," replied Nancy, looking at them in surprise, "who else should decide?"