'You here—George? Actually in the house? Oh! but you know——'
'I know—I know. But I could not possibly wait till this evening. My dear child, the most wonderful—the most wonderful thing—the most extraordinary thing—in the whole world has happened—a thing we could never hope and never ask——'
'Mr. Dering has told you, then?'
'What? Do you know?'
'Mr. Dering told me this morning.—Oh, George! isn't it wonderful?'
'Wonderful? It is like the last chapter of a novel!' This he said speaking as a fool, because the only last chapter in life is that in which Azrael crosses the threshold.
'Oh, George!—I have been walking in the air—I have been flying—I have been singing and dancing. I feel as if I had never before known what it was to be happy. Mr. Dering said something about having it settled—mind—it's all yours, George—yours as well as mine.'
'Yes,' said George, a little puzzled. 'I suppose in the eyes of the law it is mine, but then it is yours as well. All that is mine is yours.
'Oh! Mr. Dering said it was mine in the eyes of the law. What does it matter, George, what the stupid old law says?'
'Nothing, my dear—nothing at all.'