The bait was too tempting. “Well, you are the right sort,” cried Reginald.
But presently he began to doubt. “But all that will cost a lot of money.”
“It will, but I have a great deal of money.”
Reginald thought, and said, suspiciously, “I don't know why you should do all this for me.”
“Do you not? What! when I have brought you into this family, and encouraged you in such vast expectations, could I, in honor and common humanity, let you fall into poverty and neglect? No. I have many thousand pounds, all my own, and you will have them all, and perhaps waste them all; but it will take you some time, because, while you are wasting, I shall be saving more for you.”
Then there was a pause, each waiting for the other.
Then Lady Bassett said, quietly, and with great apparent composure, “Of course there is a condition attached to all this.”
“What is that?”
“I must receive from you a written paper, signed by yourself and by Mrs. Meyrick, acknowledging that you are not Sir Charles's son, but distinctly pledging yourself to keep the secret so long as I continue to furnish you with the means of living. You hesitate. Is it not fair?”
“Well, it looks fair; but it is an awkward thing, signing a paper of that sort.”