Sometimes a troublesome questioner, in the form of some young friend or companion would assail Anna, in some such way as this:
“Well, we were never more surprised in our lives than when we found out that Alick Lyon had married a parson’s daughter without a penny. We thought you were going to take him, Anna?”
“But I preferred Dick,” would be Anna’s frank reply.
“Then I suppose he married the clergyman’s daughter in a fit of pique.”
“Not at all; it was in a fit of love.”
“And she quite penniless.”
“I beg your pardon, she is a very wealthy woman.”
“What! the clergyman’s daughter?”
“Yes, for she is a billionaire’s niece, and a sole heiress.”
“Oh! then it was a mercenary match?”