There was a silence in which the two men sat without speaking a word. Barclay crossed his knees, and clasped his hands round them; Fordyce’s eyes rested earnestly upon his complacent face.
‘I suppose you know that she used to set her cap at your uncle years ago?’ said the lawyer at last.
‘I knew they were old friends.’
‘You must persuade him to go and put everything straight. He can if he likes; she will keep quiet if he tells her to do so, trust her for that. That’s my advice, and you will never get better.’
Fordyce’s face lightened; he had so lost his sense of the proportion of things that this most obvious solution had not occurred to him.
‘It seems so simple now that you have suggested it,’ he said. ‘I might have thought of that for myself.’
‘What did I tell you about the two heads, eh?’
‘Then you really think that my uncle can make it smooth?’
‘I am perfectly sure of it. Will you take another hint from a well-wisher, Mr. Fordyce?’
‘Of course, I shall be grateful!’