Also, I am
prepared to agree that if we have a son, and he should wish to do so,
he shall take the name of de la Molle."
"I am sure," said the Squire, turning round to hide his natural
gratification at these proposals, "your offers on the subject of
settlements are of a most liberal order, and of course so far as I am
concerned, Ida will have this place, which may one day be again more
valuable than it is now."
"I am glad that they meet with your approval," said Edward; "and now
there is one more thing I want to ask you, Mr. de la Molle, and which
I hope, if you give your consent to the marriage, you will not raise
any objection to. It is, that our engagement should not be announced
at present. The fact is," he went on hurriedly, "my father is a very
peculiar man, and has a great idea of my marrying somebody with a
large fortune. Also his state of health is so uncertain that there is
no possibility of knowing how he will take anything. Indeed he is
dying; the doctors told me that he might go off any day, and that he
cannot last for another three months. If the engagement is announced
to him now, at the best I shall have a great deal of trouble, and at
the worst he might make me suffer in his will, should he happen to
take a fancy against it.
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