when Julia had given him an outline of the circumstances, he added
softly, "A wonderful woman! I always had a great respect for your
mother." From which it is clear he thought Mrs. Polkington was to be
congratulated. "And when is it to be?" he asked.

"Violet says a year's time; they could not afford to marry sooner and
do it properly, but it will have to be sooner all the same."

"A year is not a very long time," Mr. Gillat observed; "they go fast,
years; one almost loses count of them, they go so fast."

"I dare say," Julia answered, "but Violet will have to get married
without waiting for the year to pass. We can't afford a long
engagement."

Mr. Gillat looked mildly surprised and troubled; he always did when
scarcity of money was brought home to him, but Julia regarded it quite
calmly.

"The sooner Violet is married," she said, "the sooner we can reduce
some of the expenses; we are living beyond our income now--not a great
deal, perhaps, still a bit; Violet's going would save enough, I
believe; we could catch up then. That is one reason, but the chief is
that a long engagement is expensive; you see, we should have to have
meals different, and fires different, and all manner of extras if Mr.
Frazer came in and out constantly. We should have to live altogether
in a more expensive style; we might manage it for three months, or six
if we were driven to it, but for a year--it is out of the question."

"But," Mr. Gillat protested, "if they can't afford it? You said he