‘Could you give baby to the nurse for a few minutes?’ Adela asked Letty. ‘I should like to speak to you and mother quietly.’
The arrangement was effected and all three went into the sitting-room. There Adela explained in simple words all that had come to pass; emotionless herself, but the cause of utter dismay in her hearers. When she ceased there was blank silence.
Mrs. Waltham was the first to find her voice.
‘But surely Mr. Eldon won’t take everything from you? I don’t think he has the power to—it wouldn’t be just; there must be surely some kind of provision in the law for such a thing. What did Mr. Yottle say?’
‘Only that Mr. Eldon could recover the whole estate.’
‘The estate!’ exclaimed Mrs. Waltham eagerly. ‘But not the money?’
Adela smiled.
‘The estate includes the money, mother. It means everything.’
‘Oh, Adela!’ sighed Letty, who sat with her hands on her lap, bewildered.
‘But surely not Mrs. Rodman’s settlement?’ cried the elder lady, who was rapidly surveying the whole situation.