'Do you seriously mean to evade the arrangement come to between us?' asked Philip. He would not be drawn from his point to side issues.
'I never went into it.'
'I beg your pardon, you did agree to what I proposed.'
'Upon compulsion. No, were I at the strappado, or all the racks in the world, I would not yield on compulsion. There you have Shakspeare again, Phil. I wonder whether you can tell me from what play I quote. If you were a man of letters, you would cap my quotations.'
'There can be no question as to what were the intentions of Uncle Jeremiah.'
'Ah, there I agree with you. Having made a preposterous will, he tore it up, to show that he did not intend to constitute Salome his heiress.'
What was Philip to say? How bring his aunt to her terms of agreement? He remained silent, with closed lips and contracted brows.
'Now, look here, Philip,' said Mrs. Sidebottom good-humouredly, 'I have ordered shoulder of mutton and onion sauce: also quenilles of macaroni and forced-meat, and marmalade pudding. Come and discuss these good things with us, instead of mauling these dry bones of business.'
'I have already spoken to Mrs. and Miss Cusworth. Relying on your word, I told them what we purposed doing for them.'
'Then you made a mistake, and must eat your words. What a pity it is, Philip, that we are continually floundering into errors of judgment, or acts that our common-sense reproves, so that we come out scratched and full of thorns! You will be wiser in the future. Never make promises—that is, in money matters. If you persist in paying the hussy the four or five thousand pounds, I have no objection to the sum coming out of your own pocket. Excuse me, I must laugh, to think how you, a lawyer, have allowed yourself to be bitten.'