The words quite startled Lionel. "Thirty thousand pounds!" he repeated mechanically.
"Thirty thousand pounds. Did you think I should waste all my best years in India, Lionel, and save up nothing for my only child?"
"I never thought about it," was Lionel's answer. "Or if I ever did think, I suppose I judged by my father. He saved no money."
"He had not the opportunity that I have had; and he died early. The appointment I held, out there, has been a lucrative one. That will be the amount of Lucy's present fortune."
"I am glad I did not know it!" heartily affirmed Lionel.
"It might have made the winning her more difficult, I suppose you think?"
"Not the winning her," was Lionel's answer, the self-conscious smile again on his lips. "The winning your consent, Sir Henry."
"It has not been so hard a task, either," quaintly remarked Sir Henry, as he rose. "I am giving her to you, understand, for your father's sake; in the trust that you are the same honourably good man, standing well before the world and Heaven, that he was. Unless your looks belie you, you are not degenerate."
Lionel stood before him, almost too agitated to speak. Sir Henry stopped him, laying his hand upon his shoulder.
"No thanks, Lionel. Gratitude? You can pay all that to Lucy after she shall be your wife."