“Something that affects me! What was it?” His tone was abrupt and full of suspicion.
“Mr. Wharton, the vicar of Duxley, told me that when my grandfather lay dying, he expressed a wish that if Uncle Arthur should die without children, the estate should come to me; but that an allowance of three thousand a year should be paid out of it to you as long as you lived.”
“I have heard my uncle say many a time that my grandfather was in his dotage for months before he died,” said Kester, contemptuously.
“Whether he was in his dotage or no, there is no doubt that such a wish was expressed by him. Strangely enough, his wish has come true as regards myself: why should it not come true in your case also?”
“Lionel Dering, what is it that you mean?”
“Simply this: Three thousand a year out of the Park Newton property belongs morally to you, and——”
“And you want to settle that sum on me?”
“I do.”
“You propose, in all seriousness, to give me, Kester St. George, three thousand a year out of your income of eleven thousand?”
“In all seriousness, that is what I propose to do.”