"Perhaps you will have to do so," said Alice, thinking of Don Pablo. "My father will never consent to my becoming your wife."
Montrose looked amazed and anxious. "Why not? There is nothing against my character and position," he said rapidly, "and as I have inherited Lady Staunton's money, your father will be glad that I should bring it into the Enistor family again by making you my wife."
"I don't think my father cares anything about the money," said Alice, ignorant of her parent's true feelings. "He wants me to marry Don Pablo."
"A Spaniard. Who is he?"
"A Spaniard, as you have said. He is my father's greatest friend."
"Young and handsome and wealthy?"
"Wealthy, certainly. But very ugly, just like a mummy, and as old as the hills—older, I believe. He must be eighty."
"Then why does your father wish you to marry him?"
"Because Don Pablo is rich."
"Well, I am rich also. Five thousand a year is riches."