"You are entirely wrong, sir," I said, "in supposing that I speak
from any prejudice against Sir Percival Glyde. I may regret that
he has so unreservedly resigned himself in this matter to his
lawyer's direction as to make any appeal to himself impossible,
but I am not prejudiced against him. What I have said would
equally apply to any other man in his situation, high or low. The
principle I maintain is a recognised principle. If you were to
apply at the nearest town here, to the first respectable solicitor
you could find, he would tell you as a stranger what I tell you as
a friend. He would inform you that it is against all rule to
abandon the lady's money entirely to the man she marries. He
would decline, on grounds of common legal caution, to give the
husband, under any circumstances whatever, an interest of twenty
thousand pounds in his wife's death."
"Would he really, Gilmore?" said Mr. Fairlie. "If he said
anything half so horrid, I do assure you I should tinkle my bell
for Louis, and have him sent out of the house immediately."
"You shall not irritate me, Mr. Fairlie--for your niece's sake and
for her father's sake, you shall not irritate me. You shall take
the whole responsibility of this discreditable settlement on your
own shoulders before I leave the room.
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