‘Yes, I suppose so. I know on my birthday I am to hear the will read, and a letter papa left with it for me. I believe I shall be expected to give my answer then, though the money can’t be divided till a little while later. Phil, do you think it would be unfair to Lewis to keep him waiting any longer?’
‘I don’t think you’ll gain anything by waiting, Maud. I should say the wisest plan would be to get the matter off your mind, one way or the other, as soon as you can. I imagine you’ll feel exactly as you do now, a year hence, in regard to Lewis. If you haven’t fallen in love with him all these years, you are hardly likely to do so now.’
‘I should never be in love with Lewis—never!’ cried Maud, almost disdainfully. ‘Fancy feeling sentimental over a man like that! But then, I do like him, and I might never meet anyone I liked so well; and there is my money, you know.’
‘Don’t think about the money, Maud,’ said Tor quickly. He would have liked to promise there and then, that she should never feel the need of that—to tell her that he would make the loss good; but he could hardly hand over £10,000 of Phil’s money so coolly, even though he felt sure of his ultimate approval: and gladly as he would have sacrificed his own fortune to her, he knew that there was only one way by which his wealth could be made hers, and that way was, as yet, closed to him.
‘I can’t help thinking about it,’ answered Maud. ‘If I had come of age at twenty-one, as other girls do, I should not have thought as I do now. Five thousand would have seemed riches, and love in a cottage the ideal of bliss. I should have sent Lewis about his business in double-quick time then, and bought the little cottage behind Roma’s studio, and lived there in glorious independence. At twenty-one we know nothing of life, and are filled to the brim with romance. But three more years teach us a good deal;’ and Maud shook her head gravely. ‘Things take very different proportions, and we see that life isn’t just what we pictured. Do you think papa knew that when he fixed my majority?’
‘No; but I have no doubt Belassis did.’
‘Uncle Belassis!’ cried Maud. ‘What has he to do with it?’
‘Everything, I imagine. Do you suppose our father would have made such an iniquitous will except under compulsion?’
Maud’s face changed visibly.
‘But Uncle Belassis says——’