“Get over things! Deeply attached!” repeated Felicity, derisively. “Edward’s manner to her has always been perfect, his whole relation to her kept in a key of the most exquisite taste, and I am sure that he has a very sincere respect for her; but, poor dear Camilla”—with a little involuntary laugh—“is hardly a person to inspire a grander passion. No, no; it is the financial aspect of the question that keeps me awake at night.”
There was nothing “put on” in the lengthening oval of Miss Ransome’s face at this announcement.
“Do you mean,” she asked slowly, “that Mr. Tancred would not be so well off if—he were to lose Mrs. Tancred?”
“Not so well off?” repeated Felicity, with an annoyed laugh. “That is putting it very mildly. Why, if Camilla were to die to-morrow, he would be left with his paltry younger son’s portion, and with whatever he makes”—the accompanying shrug expressed a minimum—“on the Stock Exchange.”
To put direct questions about other people’s finances had never been permissible by Miss Ransome’s code of manners, yet she asked boldly and blankly—
“Will not she leave him anything at all?”
“It is no question of her not leaving him anything,” rejoined Lady Bletchley, impatiently, “but of his folly in refusing to accept a penny. At the time of the marriage he absolutely declined to allow her to make any provision for him, in the event of her death. It was a Quixotic notion that, because he did not care about her——quite between ourselves, she married him! Never shall I forget my stupefaction when I heard the news. ‘That old guy!’ I said—people used the word ‘guy’ more in those days than they do now, but I dare say you know what it means.”
“I can guess.”
“Since he did not care about her”—picking up the dropped thread of her sentence—“he would not be indebted to her for anything but his board and lodging; and indeed” (with a renewal of vexed mirth), “I would not answer for it that he is not highflown enough to pay her even for that. I remember telling you once that Edward had strayed out of the Middle Ages; you see now what I meant.”
Miss Ransome’s knowledge of the period indicated was not equal to informing her whether the centuries alluded to were characterized by a marked aversion from profiting pecuniarily by unions with elderly heiresses; but she assented, adding, with a very grave face—