"
"You mustn't start a Society for the Abolition of Ancestors, Miss
Ranken. We have to make up all lost ground, and we can't help it. I'm
sorry almost that I take it all so seriously. I feel so very much like a
middle-aged prig. Perhaps, Miss Dearsley, we may grow more cheerful when
your uncle and I (and you) are fairly at work and clear of brooding. At
present I seem to exude lectures and serious precepts."
"You go to Yarmouth after the meeting, Mr. Ferrier?"
"Yes; we must all of us copy you, and humour your uncle. I can see he
feels time going very fast, and I shall play at being in a hurry all the
time I am looking after the new vessels."
"My uncle says I must speak to our meeting."
"Why not? If you like, I can bring some good lady orators to keep you in
countenance."
"I shall consider. I don't think we ought to talk; but we cannot afford
to neglect any fancy of uncle's."
Ferrier never heard so queer a speech from a girl before. She had
evidently made up her mind to face an ordeal which would stagger the
nerves of the "young person" of the drawing-room; and her deliberate
acceptance of a strained and unnatural situation pleased him. He
thought, "If she ever does take to the platform, the capture of the
millionaires is sure to begin."
Cassall and Fullerton looked very solemn and satisfied during the
evening, and both of them were just a little tiresome in recurring to
their new and exhaustless topic.
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