Peter stared a moment; then with laughter: "Ah but Julia isn't dead of it!"
"I'm not talking of Julia," said his aunt with a good deal of majesty. "Nick isn't mercenary, and I'm not complaining of that."
"She means Mr. Carteret," Grace explained with all her competence. "He'd have done anything if Nick had stayed in the House."
"But he's not dead?"
"Charles Carteret's dying," said Lady Agnes—"his end's dreadfully near. He has been a sort of providence to us—he was Sir Nicholas's second self. But he won't put up with such insanity, such wickedness, and that chapter's closed."
"You mean he has dropped Nick out of his will?"
"Cut him off utterly. He has given him notice."
"The old scoundrel!"—Peter couldn't keep this back. "But Nick will work the better for that—he'll depend on himself."
"Yes, and whom shall we depend on?" Grace spoke up.
"Don't be vulgar, for God's sake!" her mother ejaculated with a certain inconsequence.