One thing stood out clearly. As I have always refused to lead Will where his affections were concerned, so I could never stand in the way when once his heart had spoken.
"We must not worry him," I told Sir Appleton. "Cannot you and I talk over ways and means together? I have no idea what to suggest. As you know, my husband and I are paupers..."
He, if any one, after all that he had taken upon himself, was the man to help us out of our difficulty.
"I have a scheme," he said, "but your son had better hear it, as he will be a party to it."
I could have gone on my knees to him for a crust of bread... It could hardly have been deliberate—this policy of starvation—, but I was strongly reminded of very similar treatment from a certain general in the War Office ... who shall be nameless. You remember my difficulty about Will's commission; he was on fire, of course, to go into the infantry. "Do you," I asked him, "think you are serving your country by spending one day in the trenches and six months in hospital with rheumatic fever?" And, when I had wasted argument and entreaty on him, I carried my appeal to Cæsar. On the staff my boy would have been worth his weight in gold; anything else was simply a short cut to hospital. I told this general ... when at last I contrived to see him; and his method of receiving me was to keep me standing—not a chair to be seen in the room!—with all the windows open, a gale blowing and no fire. I made him see reason at the end, but I was in bed for a week afterwards... I wondered whether Sir Appleton was trying to starve me into submission...
His plan... I wish you could have heard it in his own words! The impudence and brutality...
"If you've no money yourself, Lady Ann," he said, "you've rich relations. Lord Brackenbury, I am sure, would give a substantial sum to start his nephew in life. And so would your brother-in-law, Lord Spenworth. I have spoken to both and demonstrated that your son will be at the other side of the world for probably a number of years with no opportunity of coming to them, as in the past, when he needed assistance. They both seemed disposed to help, but felt that the first step should be taken by you. I have ascertained that the lease of your house—"
"You would like," I interrupted, "to sell the roof over my head! Why not the clothes off my back?"
"There is a great scarcity of houses," he said, "and you would get a good price. Besides, with your son married and away you will not have the same need for a big house in London... When the fund has been collected, it will be settled on Miss Phenton, as it is her position that requires safeguarding; you have assured me of your son's abilities, so he should have no difficulty in making a big income in the position which I contemplate offering him. If he fails, it will be his own fault; but, as I never believe in bolstering up failures, his wife must be made independent of his success in business. If you consent to this in principle and will empower me to work out the details, your son's appointment is secured, and he can sail for China as soon as he can get a passage. Let us now go in to dinner, or Miss Phenton will be wondering what has happened to us."
I felt then that he had decided to break me at all costs, one shock after another. Forcing Will into marriage, driving him abroad, calmly proposing that I should denude myself of everything—and then throwing me face to face with this girl. I tried to protest... And then I knew that, if he did not give me something to eat, I should simply break down...