Under these
circumstances, Mr. Godfrey informed his father, I suppose, of the new
relation in which he stood towards Rachel. At any rate, in ten days from
my aunt's death, the secret of the marriage-engagement was no secret
at all within the circle of the family, and the grand question for Mr.
Ablewhite senior--another confirmed castaway!--was how to make himself
and his authority most agreeable to the wealthy young lady who was going
to marry his son.
Rachel gave him some trouble at the outset, about the choice of a place
in which she could be prevailed upon to reside. The house in Montagu
Square was associated with the calamity of her mother's death. The
house in Yorkshire was associated with the scandalous affair of the
lost Moonstone. Her guardian's own residence at Frizinghall was open
to neither of these objections. But Rachel's presence in it, after her
recent bereavement, operated as a check on the gaieties of her cousins,
the Miss Ablewhites--and she herself requested that her visit might
be deferred to a more favourable opportunity. It ended in a proposal,
emanating from old Mr. Ablewhite, to try a furnished house at Brighton.
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