 situation.
    »Everything,« affirmed Adela.
    »But what an extraordinary, what an unheard-of thing! Such injustice I never
knew! Oh, but Mr. Eldon is a gentleman - he can never exact his legal rights to
the full extent. He has too much delicacy of feeling for that.«
    Adela glanced at her mother with a curious openness of look - the expression
which by apparent negation of feeling reveals feeling of special significance.
Mrs. Waltham caught the glance and checked her flow of speech.
    »Oh, he could never do that!« she murmured the next moment, in a lower key,
clasping her hands together upon her knees. »I am sure he wouldn't.«
    »You must remember, mother,« remarked Adela with reserve, »that Mr. Eldon's
disposition cannot affect us.«
    »My dear child, what I meant was this: it is impossible for him to go to law
with your husband to recover the uttermost farthing. How are you to restore
money that is long since spent? and it isn't as if it had been spent in the
ordinary way - it has been devoted to public purposes. Mr. Eldon will of course
take all these things into consideration. And really one must say that it is
very strange for a wealthy man to leave his property entirely to strangers.«
    »Not entirely,« put in Adela rather absently.
    »A hundred and seven pounds a year!« exclaimed her mother protestingly. »My
dear love, what can be done with such a paltry sum as that!«
    »We must do a good deal with it, dear mother. It will be all we have to
depend upon until Richard finds - finds some position.«
    »But you are not going to leave the Manor at once?«
    »As soon as ever we can. I don't know what arrangement my husband is making.
We shall see Mr. Yottle again to-morrow.«
    »Adela, this is positively shocking! It seems incredible; I never thought
such things could happen. No wonder you looked white when you went out of
church. How little I imagined! But you know you can come here at any moment. You
can sleep with me, or we'll have another bed put up in the room. Oh, dear; oh,
dear! It will take me a long time to understand it. Your husband could not
possibly object to your living here till he found you a suitable home. What will
Alfred say? Oh, you must
