"There is no chance for me," said Theodore tartly. "Failing you, Basil would inherit."
"I don't think so if he marries Patricia."
"Uncle George likes Patricia."
"I know that: so do we all. But I don't think he would like Basil to marry her. In fact," Mara faced him, "I believe that father would like to make Patricia my step-mother."
"What!" Theodore was now really astonished. "It's absurd!"
"I don't see that. Father is still a young man for his years, and----"
"Oh, rubbish; nonsense!" Theodore broke furiously into her speech, and fairly ran out of the room to think over the problem thus presented to him.
He believed that what his cousin said was perfectly true, as Mara was an observant young person in spite of her dreamy ways. Then he remembered how Colpster always professed to admire Patricia, and did so loudly. He was always asking her if she liked the place and what he could do for her, and telling her that he hoped she would stay there for the rest of her life.
Theodore drew a long breath. "I see what the old man is up to," he considered. "As Mara won't marry either Basil or myself, he intends to marry Patricia in the hope of having an heir to the estate. That would be an end to everything. Not that I believe the girl would have him."
And yet of this Theodore could not be sure, as he judged Miss Carrol by his own greedy self. Could any girl, penniless, as he knew Patricia to be, resist the offer of so beautiful a home? Dane thought not, and set his wits to work to bar any possible chance of this very unexpected thing coming to pass. To do so, he had only to throw Patricia into Basil's arms and he believed that he knew how to do that.