Mr. Cathcart considered.
“You might in certain circumstances be acting de sont tort,” he said.
Mr. Collings pondered this; found the term almost inapplicable, but not so much so that he could be offensive in a gentlemanly way. Wisely he returned to lamb.
“Mrs. Tetherby was inert. Stout women are often inert——”
“Lazy,” suggested the dyspeptic Cathcart.
“She was fond of Diana. Few aunts are fond of nieces. Her will proves that. She left everything——”
“There was nothing to leave,” interrupted Mr. William Cathcart with sour satisfaction. How that man hated orphans! “There was nothing to leave because in her lifetime she gave Diana full control of her money.”
“She was inert,” murmured Mr. Collings. “She loved this orphan child——”
“If there was one woman in the world who ought never to have been allowed——”
“Never ought have been,” corrected Mr. Collings gently.