I beg you to heed my
advice, and accept the annuity.'
Sophia Brooks, with that mild obstinacy of which I had received
indications during her recital, slowly shook her head.
'You have been very kind to listen for so long,' she said, and then,
with a curt 'Good-day!' turned and left the room. On the sheet of
paper underneath her address, I wrote this prophecy: 'Before the week
is out, I predict that Lord Rantremly himself will call to see me.'
* * * * *
Next morning, at almost the same hour that Miss Brooks had arrived the
day before, the Earl of Rantremly's card was brought in to me.
His lordship proved to be an abrupt, ill-mannered, dapper business
man; purse-proud, I should call him, as there was every reason he
should be, for he had earned his own fortune. He was doubtless equally
proud of his new title, which he was trying to live up to, assuming
now and then a haughty, domineering attitude, and again relapsing into
the keen, incisive manner of the man of affairs; shrewd financial
sense waging a constant struggle with the glamour of an ancient name.
I am sure he would have shone to better advantage either as a
financier or as a nobleman, but the combination was too much for him.
Pages:
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273