"I will detain you a very short time; but, in the first place, let us drop this fencing and folly. You know my husband is dead?"
Joyce bowed.
"And that I am left with a large, a very large fortune at my disposal?"
"I heard so, not merely when I was down at Helmingham the other day, but here in London. It is common talk."
"You were down in Helmingham the other day? Ah, of course! However, suppose I had come to you to say----" and she paused.
Joyce looked at her with great composure. "To say!" he repeated.
"I must go through with it," she muttered beneath her breath. "To say that the memory of old days is always rising in my mind, the sound of old words and places always ringing in my ears, the remembrance of old looks almost driving me mad! Suppose I had come to say all this--and this besides--share that fortune with me!"
"To say that to me!"
"To you!"
"It is excessively polite of you, and of course I am very much flattered, necessarily. But, Mrs. Creswell, there is one thing that would prevent my accepting your very generous offer."