Hooper’s face grew red. “You may ask, sir, but I’ll not answer. I’m not in the habit of discussing my private affairs with anybody.”
Lawrence was angry also—“the fellow’s taking me for a fool,” he thought. But he knew he must control himself, so he answered smoothly: “This is extraordinary—most extraordinary, Mr. Hooper. You’ve had some experience—aw—in foreign marriages——”
Hooper dropped sullenly before this poisoned shaft.
“And,” continued Lawrence, “you must know that settlements are the matter of course.”
“No, sir!” exclaimed Hooper, pounding the desk, “I know nothing of the sort. When my oldest daughter married they talked to me about settlements, but I refused to have anything to do with it.”
“You may ASK, sir, but I’ll not answer”
Lawrence, in fact all Chicago, knew that Hooper, who was not nearly so rich then, had settled a quarter of a million upon the Papal nobleman and half a million on his daughter, and had engaged to settle a quarter of a million more upon the first male child of the marriage. “We should, of course, not be satisfied with the settlements you made upon the Duke of Valdonomia,” said he, ignoring Hooper’s falsehood.
Hooper winced, looked bluster, thought better of it, said quietly: “You’ve been misinformed, Mr. Lawrence. I made no settlements. But I gave the young people enough to set them up comfortably.”
“Lord Frothingham’s position forbids him to consider any such arrangement as that, Mr. Hooper. You know how it is with the great families. They have station, rank, tradition to maintain. They——”