“Only what they can save out of the wreck. Take young Perrine or young Gallatin, for instance. There’s a case in point. His people have all been rich and talented. They’ve helped to make history, but they’ve all had the same taint. Year by year they’ve seen their fortunes diminish, but couldn’t stem the tide against them. But now the last of the line is content just to exist on the fag-end of what’s left him. He’s clever, too, they say—went into the law, as his father did, but——”
“Oh, Daddy, it’s unjust—cruel!” Jane Loring broke in suddenly.
“What is?”
“Heredity——”
“It’s the law! I feel sorry for that young fellow. I like him, but I’d rather see you dead at my feet than married to him.”
Miss Loring did not move, but the hands around her knee clasped each other more tightly.
“I don’t know—I’ve never been introduced to Mr. Gallatin,” she said quietly.