The Colonel could do nothing but gasp for a few moments. Then he lapsed into an amazed silence—his shaggy brows drawn together, and his deep-set eyes fixed on Letty’s agitated face.
“And there is something else Ethel Maywood said,” kept on Letty, with her face growing scarlet, “something that made me very angry with Mr. Romaine, and I don’t like him, anyhow,” she said.
“Go on,” commanded the Colonel, in a tragic basso.
“She thinks—that—that—Mr. Romaine wants to m-m-marry me—and he fancies this will win me over,” said Letty, faintly.
“The old ass!” bawled the Colonel, for once roused out of his placid dignity. “Excuse me, my love, but this is simply too preposterous! When you first spoke, I assure you, I was alarmed—I was actually alarmed—I thought you did not know what you were saying. But, on reflection, knowing, as I do, Romaine’s perverse and peculiar character, I can wholly believe what you tell me.”
The Colonel paused a moment, and then the same idea that occurred to Chessingham came to him.
“And the making of a will doesn’t mean the enjoyment of the property, my love. Romaine may have a passion for making wills—some rich men have—and this may be one of a dozen he may make.”
Letty said nothing. Money was the greatest good fortune in the eyes of the world—but the scheme devised for her eventual enrichment had serious drawbacks. Mr. Romaine might live for twenty years—even Mr. Chessingham himself did not know precisely what were the old gentleman’s real maladies, and what were his imaginary ones—and that would mean twenty years of subservience on her part toward a man for whom she now felt a positive repulsion. She caught herself wishing that Mr. Romaine would die soon—and was frightened and ashamed of herself. And now Mr. Romaine’s relatives would hate her!
“All of the Romaine people will hate me,” she said, with pale lips, to the Colonel—they were both standing up now before the fire, and although the ruddy blaze made the room quite light, it was dark outside.
“Yes,” answered the Colonel, gloomily, “and they may claim undue influence on your part, and then there may be a lawsuit and the devil to pay generally. Excuse my language, my dear.”