"Yes!" said the Major, his face hot with indignation. "And marry Florence to some dissipated _roue_ or some horrible American millionaire! My son is a gentleman, and surely," he added, the anxiety in his face causing him to clutch his stick more violently than ever, "they will have money enough between them." "I do not know," said Mrs Fortescue, "why you call it between them, when it happens to be entirely on one side." The Major was quite silent for a minute. He felt the indignity of his present position, and would have given a good deal to put himself outside Mrs Fortescue's house at the present moment. But as he had come there with the express intention of finding out what Florence's fortune would be, it seemed absurd to go away without doing so. Accordingly, he said, after a pause-- "My dear madam, we have known each other for years." "We have," said Mrs Fortescue. "And neither you nor I are to blame if the young people fall in love with each other." "That is certainly true," said Mrs Fortescue. "I never encouraged it." "Oh!" said the Major. "Can you say that? You were always asking my boy over to play tennis or croquet with the girls during their holidays: in fact, he was always in and out of the house. He was the only young man you admitted into their society." "True--very true," she said. "I did wrong; I did not think. I hope, Major, you won't use this knowledge to my disadvantage." "By no means," he replied. "I should be more than sorry to injure your position at the present moment: my entire desire, my one object is to be as friendly with you as possible. I have come to you at the first possible moment to tell you what I myself know--that the young people are much attracted each to the other, and that a marriage is likely to take place between them. It is impossible for either you or me to prevent such a union: indeed, we should be doing wrong were we to attempt it. It is best, therefore, for us to be friends in the matter. Two heads are better than one. Florence need never be ashamed of herself as Mrs Reid. As my daughter-in-law she will have a good position, and as my son's wife she will be a truly happy woman. You can, of course, make yourself disagreeable at the present moment, but that will not prevent the marriage; for, after all, you were only paid to be good to the girls." Mrs Fortescue sprang indignantly to her feet. People never spoke directly about money at Langdale. No one ever before had alluded to the fact that she had made a nice harvest out of the girls. No one had been so ill-bred; but now it flashed across her mind that it was true: it also came over her that she had been envied amongst the most aristocratic members of society in Langdale, because of her chaperonage of Brenda and Florence Heathcote. Accordingly, she sank down again with a faint smile on her face.