"Are you listening to me, Val?"
"I am quite ready," answered Val.
"I asked you, once before, to let me have Maude's children, and to allow me a fair income with them. Had you done so, this dreadful misfortune would not have overtaken your house: for it stands to reason that if Lord Elster had been living somewhere else with me, he could not have caught scarlet-fever in London."
"We never thought he did catch it," returned Hartledon. "It was not prevalent at the time; and, strange to say, none of the other children took it, nor any one else in the house."
"Then what gave it him?" sharply uttered the dowager.
What Val answered was spoken in a low tone, and she caught one word only, Providence. She gave a growl, and continued.
"At any rate, he's gone; and you have now no pretext for refusing me Maude. I shall take her, and bring her up, and you must make me a liberal allowance for her."
"I shall not part with Maude," said Val, in quiet tones of decision.
"You can't refuse her to me, I say," rejoined the dowager, nodding her head defiantly; "she's my own grandchild."
"And my child. The argument on this point years ago was unsatisfactory, Lady Kirton; I do not feel disposed to renew it. Maude will remain in her own home."