“It’s to Mr. Edward Craddock,” drily said Miss Ley, interrupting these transports.
“Oh!” Miss Glover’s jaw dropped and she changed colour; then, recovering herself: “You don’t say so!”
“You seem surprised, dear Miss Glover,” said the elder lady, with a thin smile.
“I am surprised. I thought they scarcely knew one another; and besides—“ Miss Glover stopped, with embarrassment.
“And besides what?” inquired Miss Ley, sharply.
“Well, Miss Ley, of course Mr. Craddock is a very good young man and I like him, but I shouldn’t have thought him a suitable match for Bertha.”
“It depends upon what you mean by a suitable match.”
“I was always hoping Bertha would marry young Mr. Branderton of the Towers.”
“Hm!” said Miss Ley, who did not like the neighboring squire’s mother, “I don’t know what Mr. Branderton has to recommend him beyond the possession of four or five generations of particularly stupid ancestors and two or three thousand acres which he can neither let nor sell.”
“Of course Mr. Craddock is a very worthy young man,” added Miss Glover, who was afraid she had said too much. “If you approve of the match no one else can complain.”