Page:Barr--Stranleighs millions.djvu/23

Rh "I am sure my husband would not sell to Brassard now if he offered twenty thousand." "But, my dear Mrs. Bendale, such an attitude is most unreasonable."

"I know it is; that's what I've been saying. My husband has gone beyond the power of reasoning, and that's what frightens me."

"How old is your husband, Mrs. Bendale?"

"We have been married fifteen years, and he was twenty-three on our wedding-day," she replied in round-about fashion.

"Thirty-eight, eh? Well, a man should not have passed beyond the reach of wise counsel at that age. You are quite sure I could do no good by talking with him?"

"None in the least, I am sorry to say, my lord."

"The knife thrusts of Richard Brassard have gone deep, then?"

"They have, indeed," she wailed.

"As I understand the case, it is not so much financial, serious as that aspect is, as temperamental. We have here in a measure the problem of our youth: the irresistible force and the immovable body. Well, I must take a little time to think over the situation, Mrs. Bendale, and if I undertake to do that, you, in turn, should promise that in case of real monetary distress coming upon you, you will at once apply to me."

"Oh, Lord Stranleigh, I assure you that I never for a moment thought"