"
"Can I help what she thinks, John?" Of course she feels that she
is--"
"Is what?"
"An interloper--if I must say it"
"But I have sent for her, and I have begged her to stay."
"Of course she can stay if she wishes. But, dear John, there must
be much to be said between you and me which,--which cannot interest
her; or which, at least, she ought not to hear." He did not
contradict this in words, feeling himself to be too weak, for
contest; but within his own mind he declared that it was not so.
The things which interested him now were as likely to interest his
great-aunt as his grandmother, and to be as fit for the ears of the
one as for those of the other.
An hour had passed after this during which she tended him, giving
him food and medicine, and he had slept before she ventured to
allude to the subject which was nearest to her heart. "John," she
said at last, "I have been thinking about Chowton Farm."
"Well."
"It certainly should be bought"
"If the man resolves on selling it."
"Of course; I mean that. How much would it be?" Then he mentioned
the sum which Twentyman had named, saying that he had inquired and
had been told that the price was reasonable. "It is a large sum of
money, John."
"There might be a mortgage for part of it"
"I don't like mortgages. The property would not be yours at all if
it were mortgaged, as soon as bought.
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