"Too candid to mislead me she explained:
"'No, I am going home.'
"'To your home?'
"'Yes,' she replied, smiling, 'Rue Cassini, not far from the observatory. It is a little flat belonging to my aunt from Liéville, an aunt of the Breton sort. She left me her lease and sufficient income on condition that I give up teaching. Poor, dear woman, she chafed under what she called my "loss of caste." She is the only relative who showed me any sympathy in time of need. She offered to have me to live with her, but I preferred my independence.'
"'Now you are rich?'
"'Oh, eight or ten thousand francs a year. If I accept it.'
"'Why should you refuse?'
"'I should have to leave London and begin my life anew. It comes too late—at my age.'
"'You do not think of marrying Lord Howard ... or M. Portal?'
"'Who told you?'