"Yet I am still poor," said Hench ironically.
"That has yet to be proved," rejoined Madame bluntly. "Oh, don't look so astonished, my friend. I am old and I am shrewd, and I have learned by experience that two and two make four. Those papers you mention, together with this advertisement which plainly refers to you, appear to me proof that you will inherit money."
"I don't see that, Madame, unless, of course, my father gave you some hint that there was money in the family."
"Mr. Hench gave me no hint," said the lady sharply and hastily. "He explained that he had a small income, and frequently won large sums at cards. On the whole, he gave me to understand that if I married him there would be no lack of money. But he never said a word about a fortune coming to him."
"Then why should you think that a fortune is likely to come to me?" asked Hench very naturally.
"I have intuition, my friend, and intuition tells me that those papers and that advertisement mean money." Madame Alpenny paused, and then continued after some thought: "You say that you had great difficulty in getting money after your father's death?"
"That is so. I had to earn every penny."
"Strange, when he had a sufficient income to keep him comfortable."
"That was an annuity. He told me so shortly before he died."
"And told you that the papers with your lawyers would place you in possession of money?"