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。