I would not look at anything under twenty thousand a year.
She is too good for that lumbering Welsh squire she's engaged too--the
man who lives in the Castle--though they say that he is fairly rich."
"Engaged," said Geoffrey, "how do you know that she is engaged?"
"Oh, I don't know it at all, but I suppose she is. If she isn't, she
soon will be, for a girl in that position is not likely to throw such
a chance away. At any rate, he's head over ears in love with her. I saw
that last night. He was hanging about for hours in the rain, outside
the door, with a face like a ghost, till he knew whether she was dead or
alive, and he has been there twice to inquire this morning. Mr. Granger
told me. But she is too good for him from a business point of view. She
might marry anybody, if only she were put in the way of it."
Somehow, Geoffrey's lively interest in Beatrice sensibly declined on the
receipt of this intelligence. Of course it was nothing to him; indeed
he was glad to hear that she was in the way of such a comfortable
settlement, but it is unfortunately a fact that one cannot be quite as
much interested in a young and lovely lady who is the potential property
of a "lumbering Welsh squire," as in one who belongs to herself.
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