And then suddenly he realized, with a feeling of sharp revolt and anguish, that that which he had sometimes thought of as being possible, but which during recent years had gone into the background of his mind--for he was a much-occupied as well as an unimaginative man--had come upon him. He saw that he was going to lose her, that their old relationship was even now severed, and that this was in very truth her last and supreme call on him for help. But there was no perceptible change in his voice, as he said very quietly: 'Please read me your notes: then I shall understand more clearly what you want done; and once I understand, I will do all in my power to see that your wishes are carried out.' She bowed her head, and Winfrith listened with dismay and increasing astonishment as Mrs. Robinson explained the scheme, evidently well and carefully thought out, by which she proposed to renounce and distribute the whole of the immense fortune which had been left to her by Melancthon Robinson. As she spoke, as she read on from her notes, her voice regained something of its sureness of accent; and glancing frequently at the paper she held in her hand, she elaborated the various points, showing more real knowledge of the problems which confront the modern philanthropist than Winfrith would have thought possible. Then came the sudden, the agonizing, conviction that in this matter Penelope had been helped by some other and more practical mind than her own; and, as this fact became clear, he set his teeth, and forced himself to remember that the man, whoever he might be, who had inspired this great renunciation could be no fortune-hunter. 'Of course, you can guess,' she said at last--for his silence made her uneasy--'why I am doing all this. I have as yet told nobody; but my life henceforth will be spent abroad, and'--again she hesitated painfully--'the person whose wishes I am now bound to consult absolutely agrees with me, and approves of what I am going to do about Melancthon's money.' He brushed aside her last words, and brought himself to consider her material interests, and so, 'You realize what all this means?' he said at length. 'If these arrangements are carried out, your income, in the sense you now understand the word, will be wholly absorbed--gone.' 'I am retaining everything my father left to me, with the exception of this place,' she said quickly. 'With the exception of this place?' he repeated with dismay. 'Do you, then, mean to sell Monk's Eype?' 'No, no! how could you think of such a thing?' A tone of profound dejection crept into her voice. 'What I mean is that, before going away, I intend to hand Monk's Eype over to Ludovic. He was not fairly treated by my father; but, even as it is with him, he could afford to keep up the villa and the gardens as they should be kept up, and I am sure he will always make my mother welcome, should she care to come here from time to time.'