"Hear, hear, to that, sir," replied the old gentleman. "We shall be a merry party, and, I trust, a distinguished one. We _did_ hope to have had Royalty present among us, but, unfortunately, there were special reasons, that I am hardly privileged to mention, which prevented it. However, the Duke of Rugby and his Duchess, the father and mother of my future son-in-law, you know, are coming; the Earl of Boxmoor and his countess have accepted; Lord Southam and his lady, half-a-dozen baronets or so, and as many Members of Parliament and their wives as you can count on one hand. There’ll be a ball the night before, given by the Mayor at the Assembly Rooms, a dinner to the tenants at the conclusion of the ceremony, and a ball in my own house after the young couple have gone away. You may take it from me, my dear sir, that nothing on a similar scale has even been seen at Market Stopford before." "I can quite believe it," said Carne. "It will mark an epoch in the history of the country." "It will do more than that, sir. The festivities alone will cost me a cool five thousand pounds. At first _I_ was all for having it in town, but I was persuaded out of it. After all, a country house is better suited to such jinks. And we mean to do it well." He took Carne familiarly by the button of his coat, and, sinking his voice to an impressive whisper, asked him to hazard a guess how much the whole affair, presents and all, would cost. Carne shook his head. "I have not the very remotest notion," he said. "But if you wish me to guess, I will put it at fifty thousand pounds." "Not enough by half, sir--not enough by half. Why, I’ll let you into a secret that even my wife knows nothing about." As he spoke, he crossed the room to a large safe in the wall. This he unlocked and having done so took from it an oblong box, wrapped in tissue paper. This he placed on the table in the center of the room, and then, having looked out into the hall to make sure that no one was about, shut and locked the door. Then, turning to Carne, he said: "I don’t know what you may think, sir, but there are some people I know as try to insinuate that if you have money you can’t have taste. Now, I’ve got the money"--here he threw back his shoulders, and tapped himself proudly on the chest--"and I’m going to convince you, sir, that I’ve got as pretty an idea of taste as any man could wish to have. This box will prove it." So saying he unwrapped the tissue paper, and displayed to Carne’s astonished gaze a large gilded casket, richly chased, standing upon four massive feet. "There, sir, you see," he said, "an artistic bit of workmanship, and I’ll ask you to guess what it’s for." Carne, however, shook his head. "I’m afraid I’m but a poor hand at guessing, but, if I must venture an opinion, I should say a jewel case." Thereupon Mr. Greenthorpe lifted the lid.