"Yes; I have always owned it--they might have induced me to marry him;
and you, as the possessor of other 20,000 pounds, would have been a most
welcome inmate of our house until you chose for yourself your own home.
But now, Elsie, I know William Dalzell is not the man to encumber
himself with a penniless wife and a penniless sister-in-law."

"He is not mercenary--I am sure he is not," said Elsie with animation.

"Perhaps he is not positively mercenary; but after all am I
worthy of the sacrifice? Look at me, Elsie; even your sisterly
partiality cannot make a beauty of me. My turn of mind is not suited to
his; I have always felt that; and, above all, I am not very fond of
him."

"Not very!"

"No; I have liked him a good deal; but now in this crisis, when
we have to begin life in earnest--when I am puzzling myself how to
find food and clothing and shelter for you and me--I feel as if Mr.
Dalzell's past attentions belonged to another world altogether, so I am
putting them aside completely."

"Ah! but Jane, only listen to me. If he were to come now, and lay
himself and all that he has at your feet, that would prove that he was
no fortune-hunter, but a real true lover, as I always believed him to
be."

"He will not do it," said Jane, quietly; and she now began to make some
memoranda.