"Joe!" cried Charlotte.
"Never mind.... I like him to speak out," said Sophy bravely, a scarlet spot on either cheek. Then an inspiration came to her.
"Gerald will educate Bobby for me," she said. "I know he will! I shall write to Gerald and tell him the whole truth. He has always been like a true brother to me."
The Judge was thinking hard and quickly.
"Yes—and suppose he dies suddenly—what then?"
"How 'what then'?" asked Sophy, bewildered.
"Why, what about the property? Is it all entailed—or only partly!"
"I ... I ... don't know," faltered Sophy.
"Very well. If Lord Wychcote dies suddenly, Bobby will inherit ... as I understand it. But if the property is all entailed, your brother-in-law can't leave you anything. The property would be in trust for Bobby until he came of age legally. It would depend entirely on the Court what you had as his mother. Suppose you found yourself more or less at the mercy of the old lady—Bobby getting his education in England—as you've promised he should, mind you—and you without the means to live near him—— Eh? What then?"
"I ... I will write to Mr. Surtees," said Sophy, very white.