'You are all talking of my brother,'he said. 'Don't mind me.
Not one of you can despise him more heartily than I do.
Go on, gentlemen--go on!'

But one man present took the speaker at his word. That man was
the lawyer who had already undertaken the defence of the Countess.

'I stand alone in my opinion,' he said, 'and I am not ashamed of
repeating it in anybody's hearing. I consider the Countess Narona to be
a cruelly-treated woman. Why shouldn't she be Lord Montbarry's wife?
Who can say she has a mercenary motive in marrying him?'

Montbarry's brother turned sharply on the speaker. 'I say it!'
he answered.

The reply might have shaken some men. The lawyer stood on his
ground as firmly as ever.

'I believe I am right,' he rejoined, 'in stating that his lordship's
income is not more than sufficient to support his station in life;
also that it is an income derived almost entirely from landed property
in Ireland, every acre of which is entailed.'

Montbarry's brother made a sign, admitting that he had no objection
to offer so far.

'If his lordship dies first,' the lawyer proceeded, 'I have been
informed that the only provision he can make for his widow consists
in a rent-charge on the property of no more than four hundred a year.