Mrs. Jenwyn's thin lips came together for a moment. "You are quite right, Mr. Ormsby. I should have opposed your suit by every means in my power. It would have been my duty to do so. Before coming near Rosemount, you ought to have gone to Mr. Drelincourt, or, at any rate, have written to him, asking him to sanction your suit with his sister." "A sanction I should never have succeeded in obtaining--of that I am quite sure. Besides, Anna is only his half sister, and there's nothing in her father's will which gives him the least control over either her or her property." "But surely, as her nearest living relative, he has a right to be consulted in so important a matter, more especially as Anna is still considerably under age." "I fail to recognize any such right on his part. Besides, he would only flout me. I know him--curse him! The things he sometimes said to me at the Towers used to make me wild with rage, only there was never anything to lay hold of. He was too cunning for that." "There are Miss Drelincourt's trustees, through whom her income is paid her while she is under age." "SO there are. But why should I go near them? I suppose the old colonel had got it into his head that his daughter would never marry. At any rate, there's no clause in his will which empowers her trustees to alienate a shilling of her income, even should she marry under age and without their consent. On that point I've satisfied myself." "You are not a very rich man, I believe, Mr. Ormsby?" The hot color surged up to the roots of his hair. He half rose to his feet, and then sat down again as if remembering himself. "Faith, you're right there, Mrs. Jenwyn," he said, with a short laugh. "I am a poverty stricken beggar, and no mistake. I freely admit it." "And of course it would be great pecuniary gain to you to marry any one with Anna's prospective income?" "To be sure it would. I should be a fool to deny it. If I marry at all, I must marry money; that's absolutely essential. So, why should I not wed Anna? She is, or will be, fairly well off; and then she's a lovely girl and I'm awfully gone on her." He finished with a self satisfied smirk and a twist of his mustache, and then sat staring at Mrs. Jenwyn through his monocle, with his other eye half shut, as implying that, so far as he was concerned, the last word had been said, and that the interview might be considered as at an end. But Mrs. Jenwyn was by no means of the same opinion. "Then, am I to understand, Mr. Ormsby, that it is your intention to persist in your suit, despite anything I can say or urge to the contrary?" "That is what I certainly wish you to understand." "Will nothing move you from your resolve?" "Nothing whatever." "What is there to hinder me from taking Anna away and placing her directly under the charge of Mr. Drelincourt? That is a possibility you seem to have lost sight of."