Some time I shall want to tell you more about the people
here--but I won't bore you; and let us just get quietly used to it
all. One must not be pompous about money; it is doing it too much
honour; and the best of it is that I have found a son." Howard
smiled, kissed the hand which held his, and said no more.
The Vicar turned up in the afternoon, and apologised to Mrs. Graves
for asking Howard to luncheon on the following day. "The fact is,"
he said, "that I am anxious to have the benefit of his advice about
Jack's future. I think we ought to look at things from all sorts of
angles, and Howard will be able, with his professional knowledge of
young men, to correct the tendency to parental bias which is so
hard to eliminate. I am a fond father--fond, but I hope not
foolish--and I trust we shall be able to arrive at some
conclusion."
"Then Jack and Maud can come and lunch with me," said Mrs. Graves;
"you won't want them, I am sure."
"You are a sorceress," said Mr. Sandys, "in the literary sense of
course--you divine my thought!"--but it was evident that he had
much looked forward to using a little diplomacy, and was somewhat
disappointed. He went on, "It will be very kind of you to have
Jack, but I think I shall want Maud's assistance. I have a great
belief in the penetration--in the observation of the feminine mind;
more than I have, if you will excuse my frankness, in their power
of dealing with a practical situation.
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