"I don't want you to put yourself out at all," said Mrs. Oakley, emphatically.
"He's a rich man's son."
"But he'll be a poor man himself. He will have to earn his living by hard work."
"I don't see how that can be. Didn't his father leave plenty of money?"
"No," said Mrs. Oakley, determined not to be entrapped into any such acknowledgment; "and if he had, John is no better off for it. You seem to forget that all the money is left to me."
"That's a fact," said Mr. Huxter. "I didn't think of that. Shan't you leave any of it to John?"
"That depends upon his behavior," said Mrs. Oakley. "I make no promises. The property is all mine, and I shall leave it to no one who treats me with disrespect. You see, therefore, that you need feel on no ceremony with him."
Mr. Huxter did see it. He was a selfish man, who had a great respect for the possessors of wealth merely on the score of their wealth, and he began to look upon John Oakley with quite different eyes now that he had been informed of his true position.
"You're carrying things with rather a high hand, Jane," he said.
"I mean to be treated with respect."