something of your own to buy a lot
and fix up a place to start housekeeping--

ETHEL. No, _no_! I mean a settlement upon Mr. St. Aubyn directly.

PIKE. You mean you want to _give_ it to him?

ETHEL. If that's the only way to make you understand--_yes_!

PIKE [amused]. How much do you want to give him?

ETHEL [coldly]. A hundred and fifty thousand pounds.

PIKE [incredulously]. Seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars!

ETHEL. _Precisely_ that!

PIKE [amazed]. Well, he _has_ made you care for him! I guess he must be
the Prince of the World, honey! He must be a great man. I expect you're
right about me not meetin' _him_! I prob'ly wouldn't stack up very high
alongside of a man that's big enough for you to think as much of as you
do of him. [Smiling.] Why, I'd have to squeeze every bit of property
your pa left you.

ETHEL. Is it _your_ property?

PIKE [gently]. I've worked pretty hard to take care of it for you.

ETHEL [rising impulsively and coming to him]. Forgive me for saying
that.

PIKE [smiling]. Pshaw!

ETHEL. It was unworthy of me, unworthy of the higher and nobler things
that life calls me to live up to [proudly]--that I _shall_ live up to.
The money means nothing to me--I am not thinking of that. It is merely a
necessary form.

PIKE. Have you talked with Mr. St. Aubyn about this settlement--this
present you want to make him?

ETHEL. Not with him.

PIKE [amused]. I thought not! You'll see--he wouldn't take it if I'd let
you give it to him. A fine man like that wants to make his own way, of
course. Mighty few men like to have fun poked at 'em about livin' on
their wife's money.

ETHEL [despairingly]. Oh, I _can't_ make you understand! A settlement
isn't a gift.

PIKE [as if humoring her]. How'd you happen to decide that just a
hundred and fifty thousand pounds was what you wanted to give him?

ETHEL. It was Mr. St. Aubyn's father who fixed the amount.

PIKE. His _father_? What's _he_ got to do with it?

ETHEL. He is the Earl of Hawcastle, the head of the ancient house.

PIKE. And he asks you for your property--asks you for it in so many
words?

ETHEL. As a _settlement_!

PIKE [aghast]. And your young man _knows_ it?

ETHEL. I tell you I have not discussed it with Mr. St. Aubyn.

PIKE [emphatically]. I reckon not! Well, sir, do you know what's the
first thing Mr. St. Aubyn will do when he hears his father's made such a
proposition to you? He'll take the old man out in the back lot