‘If he went abroad a hundred times,’ Mrs. Belassis answered, ‘he would never leave anything to you.’ ‘What makes you say that, my dear?’ asked Mr. Belassis, who had a high opinion of his wife’s shrewdness. ‘I say it because I know it is true. He has never forgiven you for banishing him to Germany, and for refusing his absurd request to become a musician or an artist, or something ridiculous and disreputable. I found all that out before he had been an hour in the house; and, mark my word for it, he will make things disagreeable for us if he can.’ Mr. Belassis looked uneasy. ‘You don’t suppose he suspects anything?’ ‘I dare say he suspects any number of things; but at present it is impossible that he should _know_ a single one. It is your business to make sure that he never does know.’ Mr. Belassis mopped his face in his handkerchief. ‘If Maud will consent to marry Lewis, things are pretty safe to go smoothly, and no questions will be asked. But if she refuses, and matters come to be looked into——’ He paused, and again had recourse to his handkerchief. His red face had grown a shade paler. His wife looked at him rather contemptuously. ‘I always told you you were a fool to speculate with that money; and if you are clumsy now, you will be a greater fool still. If Maud declines Lewis, you must have five thousand ready to hand over—now don’t look like that; you know it will be the only way. Only——’ and here came a meaning pause—‘we must take care amongst us that she does not refuse Lewis.’ ‘I don’t know what more we can do than we have done,’ answered the husband. ‘I never do let grass grow under my feet. The very first night he came, I tried to enlist Philip’s sympathy on our side, and in his sister’s cause; but he has not given me any answer yet.’ ‘I wish you would speak to me before you do these things,’ said Mrs. Belassis coldly. ‘You always make blunders when you act alone.’ ‘What blunder can I have made in that?’ he asked blankly. ‘You should never have appealed to Philip at all. He is your enemy, whether you know it or not. You may trust him to oppose any scheme of yours.’ Mrs. Belassis, it will be seen, had not fallen in any way under the fascinations of the supposed Phil; and so certain was she in her own mind of his enmity to his uncle and herself, that she looked with cold and amused contempt upon her daughters’ very evident desires to entrap him into a flirtation.