"When Laura was here in the autumn she often talked to Liz about little Peter Melcombe's health, and said she believed that his illness at Venice had very much shaken his constitution. His mother, she said, never would allow that there had been much the matter with him, though she had felt frightened at the time. It was the heat, Laura thought, that had been too much for him. Now, you know if that poor little fellow were to die, Valentine, who has nothing to live on, and nothing to do, is his heir. What a fine thing it would be for him!"
"I don't see yet what you mean."
"Mrs. Melcombe found out before Giles left Melcombe all about these letters. She came into the room, and Laura, who seems to have been filled with a ridiculous sort of elation to think that somebody had really loved her, betrayed it in her manner, and between her and Giles it was confessed. Mrs. Melcombe was very wroth."
"Laura has a right to do as she pleases," said John; "no one can prevent it."
"She has the right, but not the power. WE can do as we please, or we can let Mrs. Melcombe do as SHE pleases."
"You mean that we can tell my gardener's son that my cousin (whom he no longer cares for) is in love with him, and, by our assistance and persuasion, we can, if we choose, bring on as foolish a marriage as ever was contemplated, and one as disadvantageous to ourselves. Now for the alternative. What can it be?"
"Mrs. Melcombe can take Laura on the Continent again, and she proposed to do it forthwith."
"And leave her boy at school? A very good thing for him."
"No, she means to take him also, and not come back till Joseph is at the other end of the world."
"Two months will see him there."