"I don't deny that your case is a hard one," he said. "I don't want to
make it harder. I only ask you to do in Frank's interests what Frank
is too weak to do for himself. It's no fault of yours; it's no fault
of mine--but it's not the less true that the fortune you were to have
brought him has changed owners."
She suddenly looked up, with a furtive light in her eyes, with a
threatening smile on her lips.
"It may change owners again," she said.
Mr. Clare saw the alteration in her expression, and heard the tones of
her voice. But the words were spoken low; spoken as if to herself--they
failed to reach him across the breadth of the room. He stopped instantly
in his walk and asked what she had said.
"Nothing," she answered, turning her head away toward the window, and
looking out mechanically at the falling rain. "Only my own thoughts."
Mr. Clare resumed his walk, and returned to his subject.
"It's your interest," he went on, "as well as Frank's interest, that he
should go. He may make money enough to marry you in China; he can't make
it here. If he stops at home, he'll be the ruin of both of you. He'll
shut his eyes to every consideration of prudence, and pester you to
marry him; and when he has carried his point, he will be the first to
turn round afterward and complain that you're a burden on him.
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