“You won't be able to persuade Mr. Prendergast to do that,” Mark said, smiling. “It is his duty simply to carry out the provisions of your father's will, and to place you in possession of the estate; and if he would keep silence, which he certainly won't, you don't suppose that I would.”
“Then I shall hate you, Mark.”
“I don't think you will, Millicent, and I would rather that you did that than that you should despise me. At the present moment you may think that this estate would be only a burden to you, but some day when you marry you might see the matter in a different light.”
The girl looked at him reproachfully.
“I should never think so!” she burst out. “What would you have me do? Live here in this great house, with only Mrs. Cunningham, while you are going about the world seeking for this treasure? Never!”
“No, I don't think that it would be nice for you to do that, Millicent,” Mark said. “Mrs. Cunningham and I have been talking it over. We thought that the best plan would be for her to take a house in London, and go there with you; you would have the advantages of good masters.
“Then you were saying only a short time since that you would like to learn the harp and take lessons in painting. There would be time enough to think about what you would do with respect to this house afterward.”
“It is all horrible,” Millicent said, bursting into tears, “and I shall always feel that I have robbed you.”
“But I don't feel so in the least,” Mark urged. “I was not in the smallest degree put out when my father told me about it. I have always had a fancy for wandering about the world, as my uncle did, and doing something to distinguish myself, instead of settling down for life to be a country magistrate and a squire. Of course it came as a surprise, but I can assure you that it was not an altogether unpleasant one. What can a man want more than a nice little estate of 500 pounds a year and 20,000 pounds in money?”
“It is all very well to say that, but as you said to me just now, you may see it in a different light some day.”