I have a plan, and I think we can
pull through without it. It is so much easier to sell than to buy."

"You'd be more comfortable if you sold one of them."

"Of course I must borrow a few thousands;--but why not? I doubt
whether at this moment there's a property in all Hampshire so free as
this. I have always lived on less than the income, and I can continue
to do so easier than before. You are provided for now, old fellow."

"Yes, indeed;--and why should you pinch yourself?"

"I shan't be pinched. I haven't got a score of women about me, as
you'll have before long. There's nothing in the world like having a
wife. I am quite sure of that. But if you want to save money, the way
to do it is not to have a nursery. You'll marry, of course, now?"

"I suppose I shall some day."

"The sooner the better. Take my word for it."

"Perhaps you'd alter your opinion if I came upon you before Christmas
for your sanction."

"No, by Jove; that I shouldn't. I should be delighted. You don't mean
to say you've got anybody in your eye. There's only one thing I ask,
Ralph;--open out-and-out confidence."

"You shall have it, sir."

"There is somebody, then."

"Well; no; there isn't anybody. It would be impudence in me to say
there was."

"Then I know there is." Upon this encouragement Ralph told his father
that on his two last visits to London he had seen a girl whom he
thought that he would like to ask to be his wife. He had been at
Fulham on three or four occasions,--it was so he put it, but his
visits had, in truth, been only three,--and he thought that this
niece of Sir Thomas Underwood possessed every charm that a woman need
possess,--"except money," said Ralph. "She has no fortune, if you
care about that."

"I don't care about money," said the Squire. "It is for the man to
have that;--at any rate for one so circumstanced as you." The end
of all this was that Ralph was authorised to please himself. If he
really felt that he liked Miss Bonner well enough, he might ask her
to be his wife to-morrow.

"The difficulty is to get at her," said Ralph.

"Ask the uncle for his permission. That's the manliest and the
fittest way to do it. Tell him everything. Take my word for it he
won't turn his face against you. As for me, nothing on earth would
make me so happy as to see your children. If there were a dozen, I
would not think them one too many. But mark you this, Ralph; it will
be easier for us,--for you and me, if I live,--a