he keeps all her money."

"At present I suppose he couldn't give it up."

"Why not? Why shouldn't he give it up? God bless my soul! Forty
thousand pounds and all for nothing. When he married he declared that
he didn't care about it! Money was nothing to him! So she lent it to
Chiltern."

"I remember."

"But they hadn't been together a year before he asked for it. Now
there it is;--and if she were to die to-morrow it would be lost to
the family. Something must be done, you know. I can't let her money
go in that way."

"You'll do what Mr. Forster suggests, no doubt."

"But he won't suggest anything. They never do. He doesn't care what
becomes of the money. It never ought to have been given up as it
was."

"It was settled, I suppose."

"Yes;--if there were children. And it will come back to her if he
dies first. But mad people never do die. That's a well-known fact.
They've nothing to trouble them, and they live for ever. It'll all go
to some cousin of his that nobody ever saw."

"Not as long as Lady Laura lives."

"But she does not get a penny of the income;--not a penny. There
never was anything so cruel. He has published all manner of
accusations against her."

"Nobody believes a word of that, my lord."

"And then when she is dragged forward by the necessity of vindicating
her character, he goes mad and keeps all her money! There never was
anything so cruel since the world began."

This continued for half-an-hour, and then Lady Laura came in. Nothing
had come, or could have come, from the consultation with the Earl.
Had it gone on for another hour, he would simply have continued
to grumble, and have persevered in insisting upon the hardships
he endured. Lady Laura was in black, and looked sad, and old, and
careworn; but she did not seem to be ill. Phineas could not but think
at the moment how entirely her youth had passed away from her. She
came and sat close by him, and began at once to speak of the late
debate. "Of course they'll go out," she said.

"I presume they will."

"And our party will come in."

"Oh, yes;--Mr. Gresham, and the two dukes, and Lord Cantrip,--with
Legge Wilson, Sir Harry Coldfoot, and the rest of them."

"And you?"

Phineas smiled, and tried to smile pleasantly, as he answered, "I
don't know that they'll put themselves out by doing very much for
me."

"They'll do something."

"I fancy not. Indeed, Lady Laura, to tell the truth at once, I know
that they don't mean to