long that Ransford began to feel uncomfortable under it.
"Don't be angry--or hurt--if I tell you plainly what it is.
I'm quite sure it's never even occurred to Dick--but I'm three
years ahead of him. It's this--have we been dependent on
you?"

Ransford's face flushed and he turned deliberately to the
window, and for a moment stood staring out on his garden and
the glimpses of the Cathedral. And just as deliberately as he
had turned away, he turned back.

"No!" he said. "Since you ask me, I'll tell you that. You've
both got money--due to you when you're of age. It--it's in my
hands. Not a great lot--but sufficient to--to cover all your
expenses. Education--everything. When you're twenty-one,
I'll hand over yours--when Dick's twenty-one, his. Perhaps I
ought to have told you all that before, but--I didn't think it
necessary. I--I dare say I've a tendency to let things
slide."

"You've never let things slide about us," she replied quickly,
with a sudden glance which made him turn away again. "And I
only wanted to know--because I'd got an idea that--well, that
we were owing everything to you."

"Not from me!" he exclaimed.

"No--that would never be!" she said. "But--don't you
understand? I--wanted to know--something. Thank you. I won't
ask more now."