Then it's settled.

We have your consent ?' Dick nodded gravely.
'Thanks for your confidence,' said Frank laughing.

'I think you'll find me a fairly good sort as step-fathers go.' Dick had no fears whatever on that point; he and Frank had been excellent friends for as long as he could remember, and Frank had been his champion in many semi-public disagreements about billy-goats; and besides, he was a reader whose judgment the boy held in the highest respect, and that counted for a great deal.
The boy had a message for Harry, and delivered it with great secrecy at the earliest opportunity.
'She's back at Summers's, Harry,' he whispered.

'She gave Kitty a letter to give to me to give you.' Harry tore the envelope with trembling impatient hands.

It contained only a short note: 'Will you come to me at the gate under the firs to-night at eight ?' and was coldly signed, 'Your true friend, C.S.'.