"
"The fortune for which Charlotte is a claimant comes from the maternal
ancestor of Christian Meynell. I do not count upon her possession of it
as a certain good in the future. If it comes we will be thankful."
"Is it a very large sum of money?"
"Well, yes; I believe it is a considerable sum."
"Twenty thousand pounds, perhaps?"
"I have been told that it is as much."
He did not want Georgy's weak mind to become possessed of the idea of
shadowy wealth. He remembered what Philip Sheldon had said to him on the
Christmas night in which they had paced the little Bayswater garden
together, and he felt that there was a substratum of common sense in that
scoundrel's artful warning.
CHAPTER III.
GREEK AGAINST GREEK.
Valentine Hawkehurst called upon Mr. Greenwood, of the firm of Greenwood
and Greenwood, within a week of his marriage, and exhibited the
certificate to that gentleman. Mr. Greenwood received the information
with much solemnity, and even severity, of manner.
"Are you aware that this is a very serious step which you have taken,
Mr. Hawkehurst?" he demanded, sternly. "You entrap--that is to say,
you persuade a lady into a hasty marriage--without consultation with
her legal advisers, without settlements of any kind whatever--while at
the same time you are aware that the lady in question is heir-at-law
to a very large fortune, proceedings for the recovery of which are
now pending.
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