"The law would give you—a criminal—nothing," Mr. Graves here sternly remarked. "Let me but reveal the fact that Mr. Dinsmore wished to secure everything to his daughter, and how you defrauded her, and you would find that the law would not deal very generously with you."
"But I must have money. I could not bear poverty," reiterated the woman, tremulously.
"Mr. Graves—Mr. Corbin!" Mona here interposed, turning to them, "it surely becomes the daughter's duty to be as generous as the father, and—"
"Generous!" bitterly exclaimed Mrs. Montague.
"Yes, he was generous," Mona asserted, with cold positiveness, "for, after all the wrong of which you had been guilty, he certainly would have been justified if he had utterly renounced you and refused to make any provision for you. But since he did not, I will do what I think he would have wished, and, with the consent of these gentlemen," with a glance at Ray and the lawyers, "I will continue the same annuity that he granted to you."
"That is an exceedingly noble and liberal proposition, Miss Dinsmore," Mr. Corbin remarked, bestowing a glance of admiration upon her, "and with all my heart I honor you for it."
Mrs. Montague did not make any acknowledgment or reply. She had dropped her head upon her hands and seemed to be lost in her own unhappy reflections.
Mr. Graves and Mr. Corbin conferred together for a few moments, and then the former remarked:
"Mrs. Montague will, of course, wish to give these subjects some consideration, and meanwhile I will go to consult with Mr. Cutler regarding his interest in the matter."
He left immediately, and Mr. Corbin and Mr. Rider fell into general conversation, while Ray and Mona withdrew to the lower end of the drawing-room, where they could talk over matters unheard.