Chatterton's eyes flashed.
'Poor! Aye, to be poor is a curse.'
'No,' Bryda said, 'it need not be a curse.'
Then she went on with her rolling and kneading. Presently she said again,—
'Are you a lawyer, sir?'
'A lawyer's apprentice, worse luck.'
'I have a question about law to ask Mr Lambert and I am afraid to approach him.'
'I don't wonder. Well, what is the question?'
'If a person promised to pay back a debt, and put his hand to a bond, and the man to whom he owed the money died before it was paid, would the son of that man have a right to it?'
'If it had been so set down in the bond that the heirs of his body should have it, yes, he'd have to pay it.'