They were aware of the youth of the parties to whom they were going to make a most favourable proposal; and they dreaded that if that proposal was too lightly made, it would be too lightly considered, and the duties involved in it too carelessly entered upon.

So the _role_ of one brother was to suggest, that of the other to repress.

The young men, too, had their reserves.

They foresaw, and had long foreseen, what was coming that evening.

They were impatient to hear it in distinct words; and yet they had to wait, as if unconscious, during all the long preamble.