Mr. Lidderdale, however, believed that his nephew had deliberately tried to ruin him out of malice, and when two parents seized the opportunity of such a scandal to remove their sons from Haverton House without paying the terminal fees, Mr. Lidderdale told Mark that he should recoup himself for the loss out of the money left by his mother.
"How much did she leave?" his nephew asked.
"Don't ask impertinent questions."
"But it's my money, isn't it?"
"It will be your money in another six years, if you behave yourself. Meanwhile half of it will be devoted to paying your premium at the office of my friend Mr. Hitchcock."
"But I don't want to be a solicitor. I want to be a priest," said Mark.
Uncle Henry produced a number of cogent reasons that would make his nephew's ambition unattainable.
"Very well, if I can't be a priest, I don't want the money, and you can keep it yourself," said Mark. "But I'm not going to be a solicitor."
"And what are you going to be, may I inquire?" asked Uncle Henry.
"In the end I probably shall be a priest," Mark prophesied. "But I haven't quite decided yet how. I warn you that I shall run away."