He paused.
“And what did Harry say?” inquired Lady Harriet.
“Say? What should he say? Some rubbish about getting work. Work indeed! I should like to see Harry work. I laughed at that. ‘My dear young man,’ I said, ‘you aren’t fit to work; you’ve been an idler all your life. What you boys are coming to, I don’t know.’”
“I sometimes think,” said his wife reflectively, “that perhaps you made a mistake when you would not let him go into the army, Edward.”
“Pshaw! What nonsense! Really, one might think you were on his side.”
“I dislike Miss Ridgeway, and should dislike beyond all to see him married to her. Have you written to Mr. Lewis?”
“Why should I write to Lewis?”
“You said you meant to,” replied she.
“How can I write? I can’t say to Lewis, ‘Your niece is not good enough,’ can I?”
“There is nothing of that sort necessary. The money question alone is sufficient. Why not write to-morrow, Edward? We ought to do something.”