"And when I ask him, what excuse can I make?"
"He is your uncle: he has every right to assist you."
"I fear he might not see things in the same light, mother. Besides I have no qualifications." George paused, then added gloomily: "An out-of-door colonial life would suit me. Give me enough to get to Canada or Australia, mother, and there I can carve my way."
"What about me?" asked Mrs. Walker reproachfully.
"I would make a home for you beyond the seas and you can come out later."
Mrs. Walker shook her head. "I am too old to travel so far," she said grimly, "moreover, I intend to wait until I get the fortune of my sister. She is dead: I am sure from what Walter Hale says that there is no child, so in the end Jabez must give me the fifty thousand pounds. That money would put all things right: your marriage included."
"Not with Lesbia," said the young man colouring. "There is no chance of our coming together. Besides, to get the money you must find that cross."
"Nothing of the sort," said his mother quickly, "Jabez only requires its production by a possible child, as a means of identification, a very silly idea I call it. But he knows that I am Judith Morse, and so by my father's will inherit, now that my sister is dead."
George shook his head doggedly. "I believe that you will never get the fortune until that cross is found."
"Then find it."