It was clear to her that there could be no marriage. She
had never expected that there would be a marriage. But if this man
who was rolling in wealth should offer some sum of money to her
daughter,--something so considerable as to divest the transaction
of the meanness which would be attached to a small bribe,--
something which might be really useful throughout life, would it
not be her duty, on behalf of her dear child, to accept such an
offer? But the beginnings of such dealings are always difficult.
"Couldn't my lawyer see yours, Lady Augustus?" said Lord Rufford.
"I don't want the family lawyer to know anything about it," said
Lady Augustus. Then there was silence between them for a few
moments. "You don't know what we have to bear, Lord Rufford. My
husband has spent all my fortune,--which was considerable; and the
Duke does nothing for us." Then he took a bit of paper and, writing
on it the figures "6,000l." pushed it across the table. She gazed
at the scrap for a minute, and then, borrowing his pencil without a
word, scratched out his Lordship's figures and wrote "8,000l."
beneath them; and then added, "No one to know it." After that he
held the scrap for two or three minutes in his hands, and then
wrote beneath the figures, "Very well. To be settled on your
daughter. No one shall know it.
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