What
made the difference? I was poor, and now I had money.
Clare was pleased to see me; she cried out in astonishment at my black
clothes, so new and glossy.
"Edgar," she said, "I cannot understand you. You have money, clothes.
How is it? What has happened?"
I knelt down by her side and took her in my arms.
"Clare," I said, "God has been very kind to us. All of our poverty and
privations are ended. Will you be calm and brave if I tell you what it
is?"
"They have taken you into partnership!" she cried, rapturously. "They
have found out how clever and good you are!"
In the midst of my agitation I laughed at this very unbusiness-like
idea.
"It is better than that, Clare. There need be no more business, no more
work for me. You remember hearing my mother speak of my father's cousin,
Sir Barnard Trevelyan, of Crown Anstey?"
"Yes, I remember it," she said. "I had almost forgotten."
"He is dead, and, sad to say, both his sons are dead. One died with him,
and one died years ago. Now do you understand?"
"No," she replied. "They cannot have left us anything, because they did
not know us.
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