"No, Miss Deyncourt; I think not."
"Why not?"
"Because—excuse me, but I perceive that if I do you will instantly wish to pay it."
"I do wish to pay it."
"I thought so."
There was a short silence.
"I still wish it," said Ruth at last.
Charles was silent. Her pertinacity annoyed and yet piqued him. Being unmarried, he was not accustomed to opposition from a woman. He had no intention of allowing her to pay her brother's debt, and he wished she would drop the subject gracefully, now that he had made that fact evident.
"Perhaps you don't know," continued Ruth, "that I am very well off." (As if he did not know it! As if Lady Mary had not casually mentioned Ruth's fortune several times in his hearing!) "Lady Deyncourt left me twelve hundred a year, and I have a little of my own besides. You may not be aware that I have fourteen hundred and sixty-two pounds per annum."
"I am very glad to hear it."