"By the time it is spent," she answered, "your party will be in, and I
suppose you will make Lawrence something."

Borrowdean regarded the woman thoughtfully.

"Has it ever occurred to you," he asked, "that the time is likely to come
when Mannering might want his money for himself? He might want to marry,
for instance."

She laughed mirthlessly, but without a shade of uneasiness.

"You don't know Lawrence," she declared, scornfully. "He'd never do that
whilst I was alive."

"I am not so sure," Borrowdean answered, calmly. "Between ourselves,
I cannot see that your claim upon him amounts to very much."

"Then you're a fool!" she declared, brusquely.

"No, I'm not," Borrowdean assured her, blandly. "Now I fancy that I could
tell you something which would surprise you very much."

"Has he been making love to any one?" she asked, quickly.

"Something of the sort," he admitted. "Mannering is quixotic, of course,
and that hermit life of his down in Norfolk has made him more so. Now he
has come back again into the world it is just possible that he may see
things differently. I flatter myself that I am a man of common sense. I
know how the whole affair seems to me, and I tell you frankly that I can
see nothing from the point of view of honour to prevent Mannering