"Yes, Fox, I will give you time," said Charlotte, somewhat bewildered at finding herself master of the situation. She had not expected so sudden a victory. "But there is one thing I wish you would ask mother to do at once."
"Let me have my clothes that are in her wardrobe. I am wretched and miserable in these."
"You will give them to her, mother," said Mr. Fox-Cordery; and his mother, taking the cue, replied:
"She can have them; I have only kept them in my room to take proper care of them."
"There, Charlotte, you have nothing now to complain of."
"But you have not answered me yet, Fox," said Charlotte, resolved not to lose sight of the main point.
"About the money you ask for? May I inquire if you are in a great hurry to get married?"
"I am not in a great hurry, Fox," said Charlotte rather awkwardly. "It rests with Mr. Dixon."
"He thinks we might get married in two or three months."
"There is no particular hurry, then; we have time before us to conquer the repugnance we feel toward him. After all, it will make you happier if you marry with our sanction."
"Mother and I will talk over the matter together dispassionately, and if we can bring ourselves to look upon him with friendly eyes we will do so. That is fair speaking, is it not?"
"Yes," said Charlotte, hesitating a little, "I think so."
She was drifting from the advantageous position she had gained, and she was weakly sensible of it; but her brother's manner was so conciliatory, and her own desire for peace so strong, that she could scarcely help herself.
"The money you require is not required immediately, and just now I am rather embarrassed with calls upon me. You would not wish to injure me financially, Charlotte?"
"Everything will come right," said Mr. Fox-Cordery. "In a month or two I hope to set myself straight. Meanwhile, as we have agreed, we will enter into a truce. There shall be no more unpleasantnesses between us. We have had a family disagreement, that is all; I blow it away." He made a motion with his lips, as though he were blowing away a cloud. "So, for two months, we will say nothing more concerning the affair. If you have had something to complain of in the past, it is perhaps due to the anxieties by which I have been overwhelmed. You do not know what a man's troubles are, fighting with the world and with people who are trying to get the advantage of him. Be thankful that you are a woman, and are spared these trials. You shall have nothing to complain of in the future."