On the night that Raymond Ironsyde left Sabina at West Haven and returned to Bridport, Mr. Legg, the day’s work done, drank a glass of sloe gin in Mrs. Northover’s little parlour and uttered a startling proposition—­the last to have been expected.

The landlady herself unconsciously opened the way to it, for she touched the matter of his wages and announced her purpose to increase them by five shillings a week.  Then he spoke.

“Before we talk about that, hear me,” he said.  “You were too nice-minded to ask me if I got anything by the death of my old man; but I may tell you, that I got everything.  And there was a great deal more than anybody knew.  In short he’s left me a shade over two hundred pounds per annum, and that with my own savings—­for I’ve saved since I was thirteen years old—­brings my income somewhere near the two hundred and fifty mark—­not counting wages.”

“Good powers, Job!  But I am glad.  Never none on earth deserved a bit better than you do.”

“And yet,” he said, “I only ask myself if all this lifts me high enough to say what I want to say.  You know me for a modest man, Mrs. Northover.”

“None more so, Job.”

“And therefore I’ve thought a good deal about it and come to it by the way of reason as well as inclination.  In fact I began to think about what I’m going to say now, many years ago after your husband died.  And I just let the idea go on till the appointed time, if ever it should come; and when my uncle died and left a bit over four thousand pounds to me, I felt the hour had struck!”

Nelly’s heart sank.

“You’re going?” she said.  “All this means that you are going into business on your own, Legg.”

“Let me finish.  But be sure of one thing; I’m not going if I can stay with peace and honour.  If I can’t, then, of course, I must go.  To go would be a terrible sad thing for me, for I’ve grown into this place and feel as much a part of it as the beer engine, or the herbaceous border.  But I had to weigh the chances, and I may say my cautious bent of mind showed very clearly what they were.  And, so, first, I’ll tell what a flight I’ve took and what a thought I’ve dared, and then I’ll ask you, being a woman with a quick mind and tongue, to answer nothing for the moment, and say no word that you may wish to recall after.”

“All very wise and proper, I’m sure.”

“If it ain’t, God forgive me, seeing I’ve been working it out in my mind for very near twenty years.  And I say this, that being now a man of capital, and a healthy and respectable man, and well thought of, I believe, and nothing against me to my knowledge, I offer to marry you, Nelly Northover.  The idea, of course, comes upon you like a bolt from the blue, as I can see by your face; but before you answer ‘No,’ I must say I’ve loved you in a respectful manner for many years, and though I knew my place too well to say so, I let it appear by faithful service and very sharp eyes always on your interests—­day and night you may say.”