"She was not of Keppe-Carew, Selina."
"She was. Don't you know that, Anne? her father was Carew of Keppe-Carew; and when he died without a son, his brother, your mamma's father and mine, succeeded to Keppe-Carew. He died in his turn, leaving no son, and Keppe-Carew and its broad lands went to a distant man, the male heir. We three Carews have all married badly, in one way or another."
Mrs. Edwin Barley was speaking dreamily then, as if forgetting anybody heard her.
"She, Frances, married Hemson the tradesman, throwing a barrier between herself and her family; Ursula married Colonel Hereford, to wear out a few of her best years in India, and then to die in poverty, and leave an unprovided-for child; and I have married him, Edwin Barley. Which is the worst, I wonder?"
I thought over what she said in my busy brain. Few children had so active a one.
"Selina, you say you married Mr. Edwin Barley because he is rich."
"Well."
"Why did you, when you were rich yourself?"
"I rich? You will count riches differently when you are older. Why, Anne, do you know what my fortune was? Four thousand pounds. Ursula had the same, and she and Colonel Hereford spent it. That put a notion in my father's head, and he tied mine up tight enough, securing it to my absolute use until I die."
"Will it be Mr. Barley's when you die, Selina?"