Then he spoke to Morris, who was delighted with the idea.
For Morris had come to the conclusion that the marriage state would be better and more satisfactory than one of prolonged engagement.
It only remained, therefore, to obtain the consent of Mary, which would perhaps, have been given without much difficulty had her uncle been content to leave his son or Mr.Porson to ask it of her.

As it chanced, this he was not willing to do.

Porson, he was sure, would at once give way should his daughter raise any objection, and in Morris's tact and persuasive powers the Colonel had no faith.
In the issue, confident in his own diplomatic abilities, he determined to manage the affair himself and to speak to his niece.

The mistake was grave, for whereas she was as wax to her father or her lover, something in her uncle's manner, or it may have been his very personality, always aroused in Mary a spirit of opposition.

On this occasion, too, that manner was not fortunate, for he put the proposal before her as a thing already agreed upon by all concerned, and one to which her consent was asked as a mere matter of form.
Instantly Mary became antagonistic.