That was the paragraph which David Ogilvie placed before the eyes of his sister in a newspaper lent to him in the train by a courteous fellow-traveller.
“Poor Caroline!” said Mary.
They said no more till the next day, when, after the English service at Florence, they were strolling together towards San Miniato, and feeling themselves entirely alone.
“I wonder whether this is true,” began Mary at last.
“Why not true?”
“I thought Mr. Barnes had threatened the boys that they should remember the Midas escapade.”
“It must have been only a threat. It could only lie between her and the Spanish child; and, if report be true, even the half would be an enormous fortune.”
“Will it be fortune or misfortune, I wonder?”
“At any rate, it puts an end to my chances of being of any service to her. Be it the half or the whole, she is equally beyond my reach.”
“As she was before.”