And Bernard Dale was also in earnest.
Throughout this morning he had stood very near to Bell on the lawn, and had thought that his cousin did not receive his little whisperings with any aversion.

Why should she?
Lucky girl that she was, thus to have eight hundred a year pinned to her skirt! "I say, Dale," Crosbie said, as in the course of their day's work they had come round upon Gruddock's ground, and were preparing to finish off his turnips before they reached the farmyard gate.

And now, as Crosbie spoke, they stood leaning on the gate, looking at the turnips while the two dogs squatted on their haunches.

Crosbie had been very silent for the last mile or two, and had been making up his mind for this conversation.

"I say, Dale,--your uncle has never said a word to me yet as to Lily's fortune." "As to Lily's fortune! The question is whether Lily has got a fortune." "He can hardly expect that I am to take her without something.