"After all, why not get eight and nine per cent. if you can?"
"Because it isn't safe, and because you ought not to expect it. What do you want with more money than you have got? However, I have told you what men say. There is another thing. I am sorry to say that my brothers have made fools of themselves, and I am come to apologise for them."
"Don't if it is disagreeable, my dear fellow."
"It is not very disagreeable, and I would rather. They are fifty, but they are not wise. In fact, they have lived so much out of the world that they do not understand things. And so they went down and proposed for the hand of your ward, Phillis Fleming."
"Oh! Both of them? And did she accept?"
"The absurd thing is that I cannot discover which of them wished to be the bridegroom, nor which Phillis thought it was. She is quite confused about the whole matter. However, they went away and thought one of them was accepted, which explains a great deal of innuendo and reference to some unknown subject of mirth which I have observed lately. I say one of them, because I find it impossible to ascertain which of them was the man. Well, whether they were conscience-stricken or whether they repented, I do not know, but they went back to Twickenham and solemnly repudiated the engagement."
"And Phillis?"
"She laughed at them, of course. Do not fear; she wasn't in the least annoyed. I shall speak to my brothers this evening."
Colquhoun thought of the small, fragile-looking pair, and inwardly hoped that their brother would be gentle with them.
"And there is another thing, Colquhoun. Do you want to see your ward married?"