‘I understand now!’ exclaimed Humfrey, turning towards her quickly; ‘he betrayed it when his mind was astray. I am thrusting him out of what would have been his!’
‘It cannot be helped,’ began Honor; ‘he never expected—’
‘I can say nothing against it,’ said the young man, with much emotion. ‘It is too generous to be talked of, and these are not matters of choice, but duty; but is it not possible to make some compensation?’
‘I have done my best to lay up for those children,’ said Honor; ‘but his sister will need her full half, and my City property has other claimants. I own I should be glad to secure that, after me, he should not be entirely dependent upon health which, I fear, will never be sound again.’
‘I know you would be happier in arranging it yourself, though he has every claim on my gratitude. Could not the estate be charged with an annuity to him?’
‘Thank you!’ said Honor, warmly. ‘Such a provision will suit him best. I see that London is his element; indeed, he is so much incapacitated for a country life that the estate would have been a burthen to him, could he have rightly inherited it. He is bent on self-maintenance; and all I wish is, that when I am gone, he should have sonething to fall back upon.’
‘I do not think that I can thank you more heartily for any of your benefits than for making me a party to this!’ he warmly said. ‘But there is no thanking you; I must try to do so by deeds.’
She was forced to allow that her Atheling was winning upon her!
‘Two points I liked,’ she said to Robert, who spent the evening with her, while Owen was dining with Mr. Currie—‘one that he accepted the Holt as a charge, not a gift—the other that he never professed to be marrying for my sake.’
‘Yes, he is as true as Phœbe,’ said Robert. ‘Both have real power of truth from never deceiving themselves. They perfectly suit one another.’