Frances glanced at Dorothy; but Dorothy happened at that moment to be looking in an entirely different direction, so their glances didn't meet. "You mean Strathmoira? No, he's a dear." "What do you mean by 'he's a dear'?" "Well--hasn't he been a dear to you?" "If you mean that he's been kind, no one could have been kinder. What would have happened to me if it hadn't been for him I dare not think. I don't know how I ever shall repay him." "Oh, you'll find it easy, with all that money. Fancy your being a millionairess after all!" "I'm not a millionairess." "You've got heaps and heaps of money--because Mr Arnecliffe as good as told me so; and as he really and truly is your guardian he ought to know." "I suppose your cousin's very rich." "Lord Strathmoira, my dear, is my mother's cousin; not mine. He's not poor; but then earls, my dear, are not like common people. You need such a deal of money if you want to play the part properly, if you are an earl; and I shouldn't be a bit surprised if he could do with more. Is Mr Arnecliffe rich?" "I haven't a notion." "There's been a story in his life." "How do you know?" "I can see it in his face." "Oh! How can you see it in his face?" "Dorothy?" "Yes." "How are you going to repay him?" "He doesn't want repaying." "Doesn't he?" "He's not that kind." "Isn't he? He seems to have done a good deal for your family." "Oh yes; a good deal." "I wonder how old he is. He must be pretty old if he was your mother's friend. His hair is turning grey." "He doesn't seem old to me. I like hair--that shade." There was silence for some seconds; then Frances said: "Do you know, Dorothy, I've come to the conclusion that you're going to be a beautiful woman." "Frances! How can you be so absurd? Please don't be silly!" "And do you know, at the convent I never even guessed you were going to be pretty. It never dawned on me till that morning when I saw you standing on our lawn. Then I said to myself: 'I do believe that girl's going to be beautiful'; and now I'm sure of it." "If I'm going to be--I notice you use the future tense--pray what are you now?" "Oh, I'm pretty; I know exactly what I am; I've no delusions. I once heard mother say to an aunt of mine--she didn't know I heard, but I did--'Frances is the sort of girl to make a good man happy'--and that's exactly what I am: prettiness of my kind runs in the family; Jim's a pretty boy. But you--yours is going to be the kind of beauty men rave about; and I don't call it fair." "I never imagined you could be so ridiculous. What don't you call fair?" "That a girl should have both beauty and gold. One or the other, but not both. Think of the quantities of quite respectable girls who have neither. Why, I myself know heaps--plain and penniless. Dorothy, it's tragic for a girl to be like that; you mayn't know it, but it is. Fortune ought to share out her gifts with a more equal hand: she shouldn't give one person so much more than her proper share."