She uttered a little involuntary exclamation of joy, which she instantly smothered. His face was worn and grey, and reflected none of her own pleasure.
“I have come to see you on business,” he said. “May I walk a little way with you?”
Catherine turned, and led the way from the beach to the carriage road that ran above it.
“It is connected with your aunt’s will,” he said. “The whole affair is preposterous.”
“Preposterous?” said Catherine. “How do you mean? She has left me what seems almost a fortune, and I certainly had no right to expect more.”
“You were her natural heiress, and she has robbed you to give the money to me—me, whom she only saw once in her life—practically an utter stranger to her.”
“To you!” cried Catherine in delight. “Oh, I am so glad!”
“Please do not congratulate me. I have no intention of keeping it. The money is yours by right, and shall be yours in fact.”
“But I do not want it!” exclaimed Catherine. “Do you know how rich I am already? £150 a year! £30 more than my salary used to be!”
“A fortune, indeed,” he replied. “But I beg of you to listen to me. Last Wednesday your aunt called on me and told me definitely that she had left all her property to you. She even asked me to act as her executor. Yet immediately afterwards she went to her lawyer and made this absurd will. Does it not show that she was not quite responsible?”