“Do you think women only value love when it is accompanied by worldly advantage? Surely you are doing us an injustice. Won’t you believe?” I turned on her eagerly. Really, now I come to think over the whole scene, I must confess I played it uncommonly well. I was of course in love with her. She did not rouse fire and passion in me as Sibella did, but I was certainly in love. At the same time, I had none of the modest views about myself to which I had pretended, and it is decidedly difficult to play a half genuine love affair with the tongue in the cheek. I was somewhat afraid to take her in my arms; she had always been so very stately, but I was surprised at the abandon with which she gave herself to me. It was only for a moment, however; the natural dignity of the woman reasserted itself. “What on earth will they say?” “I don’t think they will mind; they will only be surprised.” I did not think Mr. Gascoyne would be at all annoyed, but I had a sort of idea that Mrs. Gascoyne would not be pleased. “Shall we tell them?” I knew that she was a woman who would demand courage from the man she loved even in little things. “Why not?” I said. So we walked into the drawing-room, and I said boldly: “Edith has promised to be my wife.” Mr. and Mrs. Gascoyne, awaked from their after-dinner slumber, gazed at us in astonishment. Mrs. Gascoyne’s face said as plainly as words could have done, ‘What, refuse Mr. Hibbert-Wyllie, and accept Israel Rank; why, what are you thinking of?’ Mr. Gascoyne looked from one to the other several times before he spoke, saying finally, as he took her hands in his: “My dear, if I had thought of it at all I should have thought that you were the woman to prefer love and the approval of your own conscience to rank and wealth.” Mrs. Gascoyne, woman-like, could not forgive an event of the heart which she had not foreseen. “Of course you know your own affairs best, but——” She paused, evidently changing her mind, and, being one of the sweetest women in the world, rose, and kissing Edith, said: “My dear, I hope you will both be very happy, and, after all, as Mr. Gascoyne says, position and wealth are not everything.” I think the dear lady derived a certain satisfaction from the idea that our quartet would not be broken up. Certain it was that her rancour, if it could be called by such a harsh name, was short lived, and she entered into our schemes very heartily. The next morning at the office Mr. Gascoyne called me into his private room. “My wife and I have been talking things over, and we think it just as well that you should be told our intentions towards you. I hope this business will be yours one day, and I am sure there is no one we should wish to benefit more by what we have to leave than Edith’s and your children.” I stammered out my thanks, for I was really moved, and for a moment could not help thinking of the son he had hoped would succeed him. Chapter XVIII But I had to tell Sibella.