“Two thousand five hundred, by God, and not a penny more! If any man ought to marry money, I am that man, Stubbs!”
Mr. Stubbs, staring at the fire with a hand on each knee, assented respectfully. “I’ve always hoped that you would, my lord,” he said, “though I’ve not ventured to say it.”
“Yes! Well—putting that aside,” the other resumed, “what is to be done about her? I’ve been thinking it over, and I fancy that I’ve hit on the right line. John Audley’s given me trouble enough. I’ll give him some. I’ll make him provide for her, d—n him, or I don’t know my man!”
“I’d like to know, my lord,” Stubbs ventured thoughtfully, “why he didn’t answer her letters. He hated her father, but it is not like Mr. John to let the young lady drift. He’s crazy about the family, and she is his next heir. He’s a lonely man, too, and there is room at the Gatehouse.”
Audley paused, half-way across the room. “I wish we had never leased the Gatehouse to him!”
“It’s not everybody’s house, my lord. It’s lonely and——”
“It’s too near Beaudelays!”
“If your lordship were living at the Great House, quite so,” the lawyer agreed. “But, as it is, the rent is useful, and the lease was made before our time, so that we have no choice.”
“I shall always believe that he had a reason for going there!”
“He had an idea that it strengthened his claim,” the lawyer said indulgently. “Nothing beyond that, my lord.”