"The money!" Mr. Havisham exclaimed. "You can not mean the income he
proposed to settle upon you!"

"Yes," she answered, quite simply; "I think I should rather not have
it. I am obliged to accept the house, and I thank him for it, because it
makes it possible for me to be near my child; but I have a little money
of my own,--enough to live simply upon,--and I should rather not take
the other. As he dislikes me so much, I should feel a little as if I
were selling Cedric to him. I am giving him up only because I love him
enough to forget myself for his good, and because his father would wish
it to be so."

Mr. Havisham rubbed his chin.

"This is very strange," he said. "He will be very angry. He won't
understand it."

"I think he will understand it after he thinks it over," she said. "I do
not really need the money, and why should I accept luxuries from the
man who hates me so much that he takes my little boy from me--his son's
child?"

Mr. Havisham looked reflective for a few moments.

"I will deliver your message," he said afterward.

And then the dinner was brought in and they sat down together, the big
cat taking a seat on a chair near Cedric's and purring majestically
throughout the meal.