"Oh, any day next week," said Mary, carelessly. "Wednesday, if it is fine. She will not be there till Monday."
"Does she know?" asked Julia.
"Oh yes; and left because she could not agree with papa about it; and, dear, she said a strange thing—a very strange thing: she knew papa's reasons against him, and they were her reasons for him."
"Fancy that!" said Julia. "Your father told you what the reasons were?"
"No; he wouldn't. They both treat me like a child."
"You mean they pretend to," she added.
"I see one thing; there is some mystery behind this. I wonder what it is?"
"Ten to one, it is money. I am only twenty, but already I have found out that money governs the world. Let me see—your mother was a Clifford. She must have had money. Did she settle any on you?"
"I am sure I don't know."
"Ten to one she did, and your father is your trustee; and when you marry, he must show his accounts and cash up. There, that is where the shoe pinches."