I _thought_ I detected a sneer in his voice. If I had been sure, I would have suggested that he ceased insulting my son until we were both free of the obligation to treat a _guest_ with courtesy. The face was curiously expressionless; I couldn't be certain. "You must not judge every one by your own standard of wealth," I pointed out. "We are very far from rich." "You would settle, say, five thousand a year on her?," he proposed. "The cost of living has reduced that to little more than three thousand by the standard of prices before the war." "Sir Appleton," I said as patiently as I could, "if we had five thousand a year to throw about, we should not be inviting your generous assistance in finding a position for Will." It was _more_ than time to dismiss this girl and get to _business_... "Five hundred, then," he suggested. "A _year_? For all her life?," I asked, hardly believing my ears. If he could have had any conception what Arthur allows me to dress on... "Your son's costly regard will affect the whole of her life," said Sir Appleton. "I won't go into that," I said. "I admit nothing. But I _can_ tell you that it would be out of the question." "Fifty pounds then?," he went on remorselessly. "It's less than a pound a week--with present purchasing power of about a shilling a day." "I don't think we need discuss this," I said. "If the story's true, this girl will find that we shall not behave illiberally to her. I don't admit any claim; I was brought up in a stern school which ordained that a woman should reap as she had sown. What you regard as her misfortune, I was taught to consider the divine, just punishment of sin." Sir Appleton looked at his watch and rose to his feet. "But you'll pay her a lump sum of a hundred," he suggested, "to prevent a scandal and help her through her troubles and keep her from jumping into the river?" "I hope she would not be so foolish or wicked as to contemplate such a thing," I told him, "but I would certainly pay her that." "Then it's right that she should know as soon as possible," said he. "I told her to go round to my house so that my wife could look after her. She dare not face her father; and she was growing rather miserable in lodgings. If you will excuse me, I should like just to explain how the land lies and how much she can hope from your--generosity." Will opened the door... I can see now that I should have done better to say _nothing_, but I could not let him slip away without a _word_ on the one subject which had made me ask him ... and _submit_ to his company... "And when," I asked, "may we hope to hear about the appointment?" "The appointment?," he repeated. "The opening you _promised_ to find for Will," I reminded him. "Did I promise?," he asked stupidly; and then with deliberate malice, "Can you _prove_ that there was ever a promise?"