She paid no attention. Watching her, he asked:
‘What are you thinking of so earnestly?’
Her answer was delayed a little, but she said at length, with an absent manner:
‘Horace might lend me the money to pay back what I owe.’
‘Your brother?—If he can afford it, there would be less objection to that than to any other plan I can think of. But I must ask it myself; you shall beg no more favours. I will ask it in your presence.’
‘You will do nothing of the kind,’ Nancy replied drily. ‘If you think to please me by humiliating yourself, you are very much mistaken. And you mustn’t imagine that I put myself into your hands to be looked after as though I had no will of my own. With the past you have nothing to do,—with my past, at all events. Care for the future as you like.’
‘But I must see your guardians.’
‘No. I won’t have that.’
She stood up to emphasise her words.
‘I must. It’s the only way in which I can satisfy myself—’