There was a slight pause.
"Then—if Arthur married me—he would be a pauper?" said the girl, bending forward.
"He has a thousand a year."
"That's very disturbing! I shall have to consider everything again."
Lady Coryston moved nervously.
"I don't understand you."
"What I couldn't have done, Lady Coryston—would have been to come into Arthur's family as in any way dependent on his mother!"
The girl's eyes shone. Lady Coryston had also paled.
"I couldn't of course expect that you would have any friendly feeling toward me," she said, after a moment.
"No—you couldn't—you couldn't indeed!"