You will not do that, Austin?"
"Of course I will not, if you insist upon it. But I consider that you are
acting very foolishly. There must have been a settlement, by the way, when
you married. Do you remember anything about it?"
"Very little. There was five hundred a year settled on me for pin money;
and five hundred a year for papa, settled somehow. The reversion to come
to me, I think they said. And--yes, I remember--If I had any children, the
eldest son was to inherit Arden Court."
"That's lucky! I thought your father would never be such a fool as to let
you marry without some arrangement of that sort."
"Then my darling is safe, is he not?"
"Well, yes, I suppose so."
"And you will not betray me, Austin?" said Clarissa imploringly.
"Betray you! If you put it in that way, of course not. But I should be
acting more in your interests if I wrote to Granger. No good can come
of the step you have taken. However, we must trust to the chapter of
accidents," added Austin, with a resumption of his habitual carelessness.
"I needn't tell you that you are heartily welcome to my hospitality, such
as it is. Our quarters are rough enough, but Bessie will do what she can to
make you comfortable; and I'll put on a spurt and work hard to keep things
together. I have found a dealer in the Montagne de la Cour, who is willing
to take my sketches at a decent price. Look here, Clary, how do you like
this little bit of _genre?_ 'Forbidden Fruit'--a chubby six-year-old girl,
on tiptoe, trying to filch a peach growing high on the wall; flimsy child,
and pre-Raphaelite wall.
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