Lady Selina sat down. With an authoritative gesture she invited Cicely to occupy Brian’s chair, now freshly covered with chintz. Cicely felt curiously awed.
“One day,” said Lady Selina, “Upworthy will be yours.”
A vast burden seemed to the girl to be descending upon her. She looked at Lady Selina with such an expression as might be glimpsed in the eyes of an intelligent young horse about to be harnessed to a cart loaded high with mother-earth. Tons of Upworthy clay!
“Property, my dear, is a very sacred trust.”
Suddenly, she frowned, for she remembered John Exton’s words. The abominable scene reproduced itself vividly. She could see John’s eager, resentful face and hear his provocative words. As instantly she beheld the debonair Brian derisively amused by the Anarchist. Her voice was less soft as she added:
“Opinions, of course, may vary in regard to the administration of a trust.”
“Yes.”
Lady Selina continued more easily, as the vision of John Exton faded out of her mind:
“With abundant private means, with such an income as dear Arthur enjoys, for instance, an income happily independent of land, estate management becomes easy—easy.”
Cicely was constrained to dispute this.