human
Checkmate! said Lala Roy.
gpt
My friend, you have played badly this evening.
human
I have played badly, Mr. Emblem replied,
gpt
said the old man of seventy-five,
human
What is going to happen to me, grandfather, except that I shall be twenty-one?
gpt
We shall see to-morrow. Patience, my dear--patience.
human
Mr. Emblem, said Arnold,
gpt
I also have something of importance to say.
human
You, too, Mr. Arbuthnot? Cannot yours wait also until to-morrow?
gpt
No; it is too important. It cannot wait an hour.
human
Well, sir --Mr. Emblem pushed up his spectacles and leaned back in his chair--
gpt
I think you may guess what I have to say, Mr. Emblem. I am sure that Lala Roy has already guessed it.
human
It is that I have this afternoon asked Iris to marry me, Mr. Emblem. And she has consented.
gpt
Have you consented, Iris, my dear?
human
Do you think you know him well enough, my dear? Mr. Emblem asked gravely, looking at her lover.
gpt
Marriage is a serious thing: it is a partnership for life. Children, think well before you venture on the happiness or ruin of your whole lives. And you are so young. What a pity--what a thousand pities that people were not ordained to marry at seventy or so!
human
We have thought well, said Arnold.
gpt
Iris has faith in me.
human
Then, young man, I have nothing to say. Iris will marry to please herself, and I pray that she may be happy. As for you, I like your face and manners, but I do not know who you are, nor what your means may be. Remember that I am poor--I am so poor--I can tell you all now, that to-morrow we shall--well, patience--to-morrow I shall most likely have my very stock seized and sold.
gpt
Your stock sold? Oh, grandfather! cried Iris;
human
Friend, said Lala,
gpt
Foolish people, Mr. Emblem went on,
human
And as for me, I have nothing, said Arnold,
gpt
You have your profession, said Iris,
human
As for Iris being empty-handed, said Arnold,
gpt
My dear, said the old man, holding out his arms to her,
human
I could not keep you always. Some day I knew you would leave me; it is well that you should leave me when I am no longer able to keep a roof over your head.
gpt
But we shall find a roof for you, grandfather, somewhere. We shall never part.
human
The best of girls always, said Mr. Emblem;
gpt
On her tongue dwelleth music; the sweetness of honey floweth from her lips; humility is like a crown of glory about her head; her eye speaketh softness and love; her husband putteth his heart in her bosom and findeth joy.
human
Oh, you are all too good to me,
gpt
A friend of mine, said Mr. Emblem,
human
Oh, not second-hand volumes, grandfather,
gpt
I don't know. Certainly not new ones. Not volumes under one-and-twenty, if you please. Mr. Arbuthnot, I am glad; you will know why very soon. I am very glad that Iris made her choice before her twenty-first birthday. Whatever may happen now, no one can say that either of you was influenced by any expectations. You both think yourself paupers; well, I say nothing, because I know nothing. But, children, if a great thing happen to you, and that before four-and-twenty hours have passed, be prepared--be prepared, I say--to receive it with moderate rejoicing.
human
To-morrow? Iris asked.
gpt
Why to-morrow? Why not to-night, if you have a secret to tell us?
human
Your father enjoined in his last letter to wait till you were twenty-one. The eve of your birthday, however, is the same thing as your birthday. We will open the papers to-night. What I have to tell you, Iris, shall be told in the presence of your lover, whatever it is--good or bad.
gpt
Eighteen years ago, Iris, my child, I received your father's last letter, written on his death bed. This I have already told you. He set down, in that letter, several things which surprised me very much. We shall come to these things presently. He also laid down certain instructions for your bringing up, my dear. I was, first of all, to give you as good an education as I could afford; I was to keep you as much as possible separated from companions who might not be thought afterward fit to be the friends of a young lady. You have as good an education as Lala Roy and I could devise between us. From him you have learned mathematics, so as to steady your mind and make you exact; and you have learned the science of heraldry from me, so that you may at once step into your own place in the polite world, where, no doubt, it is a familiar and a necessary study. You have also learned music, because that is an accomplishment which every one should possess. What more can any girl want for any station? My dear, I am happy to think that a gentleman is your lover. Let him tell us, now--Lala Roy and me--to our very faces, if he thinks we have, between us, made you a lady.
human
There is no more perfect lady, he said,
gpt
Iris's father, Mr. Arbuthnot, was a gentleman of honorable and ancient family, and I will tell you, presently, as soon as I find it out myself, his real name. As for his coat-of-arms, he bore Quarterly, first and fourth, two roses and a boar's head erect; second and third, gules and fesse between--strange, now that I have forgotten what it was between. Everybody calls himself a gentleman nowadays; even Mr. Chalker, who is going to sell me up, I suppose; but everybody, if you please, is not armiger. Iris, your father was armiger. I suppose I am a gentleman on Sundays, when I go to church with Iris, and wear a black coat. But your father, my dear, though he married my daughter, was a gentleman by birth. And one who knows heraldry respects a gentleman by birth. He laid his hand now on the handle of the safe, as if the time were nearly come for opening it, but not quite.
human
He sent me, with this last letter, a small parcel for you, my dear, not to be opened until you reached the age of twenty-one. As for the person who had succeeded to his inheritance, she was to be left in peaceable possession for a reason which he gave--quite a romantic story, which I will tell you presently--until you came of age. He was very urgent on this point. If, however, any disaster of sickness or misfortune fell upon me, I was to act in your interests at once, without waiting for time. Children, the old man added solemnly,
gpt
He placed the key in the door of the safe.
human
I do not know, mind, he said, still hesitating to take the final step;
gpt
I do not know the nature of the inheritance; it may be little or maybe great. The letter does not inform me on this point. I do not even know the name of the testator, my son-in-law's father. Nor do I know the name of my daughter's husband. I do not even know your true name, Iris, my child. But it is not Aglen.
human
Then, have I been going under a false name all my life?
gpt
It was the name your father chose to bear for reasons which seemed good and sufficient to him, and these are part of the story which I shall have to tell you. Will you have this story first, or shall we first open the safe and read the contents of the parcel?
human
First, said Arnold,
gpt
Iris, he said, while they waited,
human
Oh, Arnold! What am I to do with an inheritance?
gpt
That depends on what it is. Perhaps it is a landed estate; in which case we shall not be much better off, and can go on with our work; perhaps there will be houses; perhaps it will be thousands of pounds, and perhaps hundreds. Shall we build a castle in the air to suit our inheritance?
human
Yes; let us pretend. Oh, grandfather, stop one moment! Our castle, Arnold, shall be, first of all, the most beautiful studio in the world for you. You shall have tapestry, blue china, armor, lovely glass, soft carpets, carved doors and painted panels, a tall mantelshelf, old wooden cabinets, silver cups, and everything else what one ought to like, and you shall choose everything for yourself, and never get tired of it. But you must go on painting; you must never stop working, because we must be proud of you as well that you like. Oh, but I have not done yet. My grandfather is to have two rooms for himself, which he can fill with the books he will spend his time in collecting; Lala Roy will have two more rooms, quite separate, where he can sit by himself whenever he does not choose to sit with me; I shall have my own study to myself, where I shall go on reading mathematics; and we shall all have, between us, the most beautiful dining-room and drawing-room that you ever saw; and a garden and a fountain, and--yes--money to give to people who are not so fortunate as ourselves. Will that do, Arnold?
gpt
Yes, but you have almost forgotten yourself, dear. There must be carriages for you, and jewels, and dainty things all your own, and a boudoir, and nobody shall think of doing or saying anything in the house at all, except for your pleasure; will that do, Iris?
human
I suppose we shall have to give parties of some kind, and to go to them. Perhaps one may get to like society. You will teach me lawn-tennis, Arnold; and I should like, I think, to learn dancing. I suppose I must leave off making my own dresses, though I know that I shall never be so well dressed if I do. And about the cakes and puddings--but, oh, there is enough pretending.
gpt
It is difficult, said Lala Roy,
human
And now suppose, Iris, said Arnold
gpt
Ah, then, Arnold, it will be ever so much simpler. We shall have something to live upon until you begin to make money for us all.
human
Yes; that is very simple. But suppose, again, that the inheritance is nothing but a small sum of money.
gpt
Why, then, said Iris,
human
Child! said Mr. Emblem,
gpt
And suppose, again, Arnold went on,
human
That cannot be supposed, said Mr. Emblem quickly;
gpt
If it were, said Iris,