My only
regret is that it didn't occur to her that it would be a useful thing to
do some time back. Is the young man coming to discuss settlements
to-night?"
"What a beast you are!" growled Burton, the eldest son.
"We're all beasts, if it comes to that," returned Leo complacently. "May
as well say it as think it. She has simply sold herself to the highest
bidder to get the poor old pater out of Queer Street. And we shall, I
hope, get our share of the spoil. I understand that Wingarde is lavish
with his worldly goods. He certainly ought to be. He's a millionaire of
the first water. A thousand or so distributed among his wife's relations
would mean no more to him than the throwing of the crusts to the
sparrows." He stopped to laugh lazily. "And the wife's relations would
flock in swarms to the feast," he added in a cynical drawl.
Burton growled again unintelligibly. He strongly resented the sacrifice,
though he could not deny that there was dire need for it.
The family fortunes were at a very low ebb. His father's lands were
mortgaged already beyond their worth, and he and his brother had been
trained for nothing but a life of easy independence.
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