“Is he an old man?”
“Yes, a very old man, and a bad one, too. All our family are a bad lot, excepting my cousin, Stephen Davenant.”
“The one you do not like?”
“The same. He is quite an angel.”
“An angel?”
“One of those men too good to live. He’s the only steady one we’ve got, and we make the most of him. He is Squire Davenant’s heir—at least he will come into his money. The old man is very rich, you know.”
“I see,” she said, musingly; then she looked down at him and added, suddenly: “You were to have been the heir?”
“Yes, that’s right! How did you guess that? Yes, I was the old man’s favorite, but we quarreled. He wanted it all his own way, and, oh—we couldn’t get on. Then Cousin Stephen stepped in, and I am out in the cold now.”
“Then why are you going there now?” she asked.
“Because the squire sent for me,” he replied.