And I said that I would do anything
if--if we could only be like mother and father. And he kissed me and I
signed the paper."
"And then?"
"He went to London the next day, and then to Paris. He said he was
obliged to go on business. He was away a month. And after a week had
passed, Lady Anstruthers began to be restless and angry, and once she
flew into a rage, and told me I was a fool, and that if I had been an
Englishwoman, I should have had some decent control over my husband,
because he would have respected me. In time I found out what I had done.
It did not take long."
"The paper you signed," said Betty, "gave him control over your money?"
A forlorn nod was the answer.
"And since then he has done as he chose, and he has not chosen to care
for Stornham. And once he made you write to father, to ask for more
money?"
"I did it once. I never would do it again. He has tried to make me. He
always says it is to save Stornham for Ughtred."
"Nothing can take Stornham from Ughtred. It may come to him a ruin, but
it will come to him."
"He says there are legal points I cannot understand. And he says he is
spending money on it."
"Where?"
"He--doesn't go into that. If I were to ask questions, he would make me
know that I had better stop.
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