“I can’t be sure. I don’t want to hurt you; but, after all, your success was sudden, and one understands that it isn’t wise to depend upon an income derived from mining properties.”
“None of you ever did believe in me.”
“I suppose there’s some truth in that; you really did give us some trouble. Somehow you were different—you wouldn’t fit in—though I believe the same thing applied to me, for that matter.”
“And now you don’t expect my prosperity to last?”
The girl hesitated, but she was candid by nature. “Perhaps I had better answer. You have it in you to work determinedly and, when it’s necessary, to do things that men with less courage would shrink from; but I doubt if yours is the temperament that leads to success. You haven’t the huckster’s instincts; you’re not cold-blooded enough. You wouldn’t cajole your friends or truckle to your enemies.”
“If I adopted the latter course, it would be very much against the grain,” Vane confessed.
Lucy laughed. “Well,” she said, “I mean to go on earning my living; but you can take me up to London for a few days and buy me some hats and things. Then I don’t mind you giving something to the Emancipation Society.”
“I don’t know if I believe in emancipation or not, but you can have ten guineas.”
“Thank you,” said Lucy, glancing round towards Carroll, who was approaching them with Mabel. “I’ll give you a piece of advice—stick to that man. He’s cooler and less headstrong than you are; he’ll prove a useful friend.”
Carroll came up just then. “What are you two talking about?” he asked. “You look animated.”