Page:Gissing - The Nether World, vol. III, 1889.djvu/35

 was to be divided she had no means of discovering; Joseph professed to have no accurate information, but as a matter of course he was deceiving: her. Should he inherit a considerable sum, it was more than probable he would think of again quitting his native land,—and without encumbrances. That movement must somehow be guarded against; how, it was difficult as yet to determine. In the next place, Jane was sure to take a large share of the fortune. To that Clem strongly objected, both on abstract grounds and because she regarded Jane with a savage hatred,—a hatred which had its roots in the time of Jane’s childhood, and which had grown in proportion as the girl reaped happiness from life. The necessity of cloaking this sentiment had not, you may be sure, tended to mitigate it. Joseph said that there was no longer any fear of a speedy marriage between Jane and Kirkwood, but that such a marriage would come off some day,—if not prevented,—Clem held to be a matter of certainty. Sidney Kirkwood was a wide-awake young man; of course he had his satisfactory reasons for delay. Now Clem’s hatred of Sidney was, from of old, only less than that