“And you never met the Lyles? How strange!” exclaimed she.
“Yes, I met Alice; at least,” said he, stooping down to settle the log on the fire, “I saw her the last evening I was at Naples.”
“Tell me all about it”
“There 's no all. I met her, we talked together for half an hour or so, and we parted; there's the whole of it.”
“She had heard, I suppose, of your good fortune?”
“Yes, Skeff had told them the story and, I take it, made the most of our wealth; not that rich people like the Lyles would be much impressed by our fortune.”
“That may be true, Tony, but rich folk have a sympathy with other rich folk, and they 're not very wrong in liking those whose condition resembles their own. What did Alice say? Did she give you some good advice as to your mode of life?”
“Yes, plenty of that; she rather likes advice-giving.”
“She was always a good friend of yours, Tony. I mind well when she used to come here to hear your letters read to her. She ever made the same remark: 'Tony is a fine true-hearted boy; and when he's moulded and shaped a bit by the pressure of the world, he 'll grow to be a fine true-hearted man.'”
“It was very gracious of her, no doubt,” said he, with a sharp, short tone; “and she was good enough to contribute a little to that self-same 'pressure' she hoped so much from.”