“Well, dear Lord Southwold, why should it matter?”
“Why?” he ejaculates. “Why?”
“Why?” repeats his wife. “Oh, Cicely!”
“Well, why?” she says, a little impatiently. “If Mr. Bertram likes to live a poor man instead of becoming a rich one, what business is it of anybody’s?”
“Oh Lord!” sighs her host.
“Good heavens, Cicely!” cries his wife. “You might as well ask what does a man’s suicide matter to his family?”
“Suicide is a disgrace, or at least it is esteemed so. This is an honour.”
“An honour!” echo both her host and hostess in one breath.
“A very rare honour,” she replies, “to have a relative who in these days has the courage and loyalty to principle to refuse a fortune.”
Southwold is too utterly amazed and shocked to have any power to answer her.