第66章

Seethepointsintheirorderastheycome。Youaregoingtobemarried；youstatetowhom，youaddthatIamthelady’sguardian；yougivethenameandaddressofmylawyerinEdinburgh；youwriteyourinstructionsplainlyinthefewestwords，andleavedetailstoyourlegaladviser；youreferthelawyerstoeachother；yourequestthatthedraftsettlementsbepreparedasspeedilyaspossible，andyougiveyouraddressatthishouse。Therearetheheads。Can’tyoudoitnow？Oh，therisinggeneration!Oh，theprogresswearemakingintheseenlightenedmoderntimes!There!there!youcanmarryBlanche，andmakeherhappy，andincreasethepopulation——andallwithoutknowinghowtowritetheEnglishlanguage。OnecanonlysaywiththelearnedBevorskius，lookingoutofhiswindowattheillimitablelovesofthesparrows，’HowmercifulisHeaventoitscreatures!’Takeupthepen。I’lldictate!I’lldictate!“

SirPatrickreadtheletterover，approvedofit，andsawitsafeintheboxforthepost。Thisdone，heperemptorilyforbadeArnoldtospeaktohisnieceonthesubjectofthemarriagewithouthisexpresspermission。“There’ssomebodyelse’sconsenttobegot，“hesaid，“besidesBlanche’sconsentandmine。“

“LadyLundie？“

“LadyLundie。Strictlyspeaking，Iamtheonlyauthority。Butmysister-in-lawisBlanche’sstep-mother，andsheisappointedguardianintheeventofmydeath。Shehasarighttobeconsulted——incourtesy，ifnotinlaw。Wouldyouliketodoit？“

Arnold’sfacefell。HelookedatSirPatrickinsilentdismay。

“What!youcan’tevenspeaktosuchaperfectlypliablepersonasLadyLundie？Youmayhavebeenaveryusefulfellowatsea。A

morehelplessyoungmanInevermetwithonshore。Getoutwithyouintothegardenamongtheothersparrows!Somebodymustconfrontherladyship。Andifyouwon’t——Imust。“

HepushedArnoldoutofthelibrary，andappliedmeditativelytotheknobofhiscane。Hisgayetydisappeared，nowthathewasalone。HisexperienceofLadyLundie’scharactertoldhimthat，inattemptingtowinherapprovaltoanyschemeforhurryingBlanche’smarriage，hewasundertakingnoeasytask。“Isuppose，“

musedSirPatrick，thinkingofhislatebrother——“IsupposepoorTomhadsomewayofmanagingher。Howdidhedoit，Iwonder？Ifshehadbeenthewifeofabricklayer，sheisthesortofwomanwhowouldhavebeenkeptinperfectorderbyavigorousandregularapplicationofherhusband’sfist。ButTomwasn’tabricklayer。IwonderhowTomdidit？“AfteralittlehardthinkingonthispointSirPatrickgaveuptheproblemasbeyondhumansolution。“Itmustbedone，“heconcluded。“Andmyownmother-witmusthelpmetodoit。“

InthatresignedframeofmindheknockedatthedoorofLadyLundie’sboudoir。

SIRPATRICKfoundhissister-in-lawimmersedindomesticbusiness。Herladyship’scorrespondenceandvisitinglist，herladyship’shouseholdbillsandledgers；herladyship’sDiaryandMemorandum-book(boundinscarletmorocco)；herladyship’sdesk，envelope-case，match-box，andtapercand