Woman to interpret events,
men to foresee contingencies. Woman to indicate, man to predicate--
perhaps I mean predict! No matter; the thought, I think, is clear.
Well, then, that is settled! I claim Howard for luncheon--a very
simple affair--and for a walk; and by five o'clock we shall have
settled this important matter, I don't doubt."
"Very well," said Mrs. Graves; "but before you go, I must claim YOU
for a short stroll. I have something to tell you; and as Howard and
Jack are dying to get away to deprive some innocent creatures of
the privilege of life, they had better go and leave us."
That evening Howard had a long, quiet talk to his aunt. She said,
"I am not going to talk business. Our lawyer is coming over on
Saturday, and you had better get all the details from him. You must
just go round the place with him, and see if there is anything you
would like to see altered. It will be an immense comfort to put all
that in your hands. Mind, dear boy," she said, "I want you to begin
at once. I shall be ready to do whatever is necessary." Then she
went on in a different strain. "But there is one other thing I want
to say now, and that is that I should above all things like to see
you married--don't, by the way, fall in love with dear Jane, who
worships the ground you tread on! I have been observing you, and I
feel little doubt that marriage is what you most need. I don't
expect it has been in your mind at all! Perhaps you have not had
enough to marry on, but I am not sorry for that, for a special
reason; and I think, too, that men who have the care of boys and
young men have their paternal instinct to a large extent satisfied;
but that is only a small part of marriage! It isn't only that I
want this house to be a home--that's merely a sentimental feeling--
but you need to love and be loved, and to have the anxious care of
someone close to you.
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