Mark arranged his thoughts.
"How much of an income," he said, "do you need to live in comfort? If a thousand isn't enough, how much? Two?"
Christopher said that he needed no money and didn't intend to live in comfort. Mark said:
"I am to let you have three thousand, if you'll live abroad. I'm only carrying out our father's instructions. You could cut a hell of a splash on three thousand in France."
Christopher did not answer.
Mark began again:
"The remaining three thousand then: that was over from our mother's money. Did you settle it on your girl, or just spend it on her?"
Christopher repeated with patience that he hadn't got a girl.
Mark said:
"The girl who had a child by you. I'm instructed, if you haven't settled anything already—but father took it that you would have—I was to let her have enough to live in comfort. How much do you suppose she'll need to live in comfort? I allow Charlotte four hundred. Would four hundred be enough? I suppose you want to go on keeping her? Three thousand isn't a great lot for her to live on with a child."