"An idea, aye--a suggestion," he answered, his small eyes still set on the woman who sat bolt upright before him. "And I'll put it to you, Jecholiah, for I know--and I wish I'd known sooner!--'at you're as keen on brass as what I've always been. It's this here, i' one word--marriage!" Jeckie heard, without moving a muscle of her face nor relaxing the steady stare of her eyes. "You an' me," she said in a low voice. "You and me--that's what you mean, Grice?" "Me an' you," asserted Grice, nodding his bald head. "Me an' you--that is what I mean, and I've thought it out careful. Look here! I'm a certain age, but I'm a strong and well-preserved man, and worth at least--only at least, mind you--five-and-twenty thousand pound. Now then, this here business o' yours--and well you've conducted it!--is worth a lot already, goodwill, stock i' hand, and so on. Mine's still worth a good deal--old established, and I've one trade 'at you haven't touched--hay and corn merchant--'at's as good as ever. Now I haven't counted my businesses in that five-and-twenty thousand pound. An', do you see, supposin' you and me were to sell our businesses to a limited liability company, I know how and where they could be sold, and if you want to know, to one o' them firms o' that sort 'at's takin' over village businesses and transformin' 'em into big general stores. If, I say, we were to do that, d'ye see what a lot o' money we should have between us? And--you'll already have saved a good deal, I know!" "Well, and what then?" asked Jeckie. There was not a trace of anything but hard business dealing in her voice, and her face was as fixed as ever. "What then, Grice?" Grice put his head on one side, and seemed to be making some mental reflections. "Taking one thing with another," he said, "what I have, what I can get for my business; what you have, what you can get for this place, I reckon we should be uncommon well off. We'd marry, and take a nice house, wherever you like, and keep a smart trap and horse." "Smarter than your Albert's?" interrupted Jeckie with a sneer so faint that Grice failed to see it. "What?" "Aye, a deal!" asserted Grice. "And we'd show 'em how to do it! Albert'll none ever touch a penny o' mine, now! Say the word, and it comes off, and I'll make a will i' your favour as soon as we're wed! What say you?" Jeckie, still upright and rigid, sat staring at him until he thought she would never speak. Suddenly she rose, moved to the door, and beckoned him. "Come here, Grice!" she said. Grice rose and followed her round the end of the lobby into a passage which led to the shop. She opened a door, lighted a lamp, and, standing in the middle of the place, pointed round the heavily-stacked shelves and counters.