Of course I thought I had a
right to come to this home, though he was dead. I suppose it is yours
now?"
"Yes."
"Who lives here?"
"Only myself."
"Have I a right to live here--as Frederick's widow?" she continued,
lifting her large blue eyes anxiously at Lionel. "I mean would the law
give it me?"
"No," he replied, in a low tone. He felt that the truth must be told to
her without disguise. She was placing both him and herself in an
embarrassing situation.
"Was there any money left to me?--or to Frederick?"
"None to you. Verner's Pride was left to your husband; but at his demise
it came to me."
"Did my aunt leave me nothing?"
"She had nothing to leave, Mrs. Massingbird. The settlement which Mr.
Verner executed on her, when they married, was only for her life. It
lapsed back to the Verner's Pride revenues when she died."
"Then I am left without a shilling, to the mercy of the world!"
Lionel felt for her--felt for her rather more than was safe. He began
planning in his own mind how he could secure to her an income from the
Verner's Pride estate, without her knowing whence it came.
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