"I don't see why you should," said Lucy, wondering why Mrs. Jasher did
not wear mourning for the dead.
"Oh yes, you do see," remarked the widow, raising her eyes and rubbing
her plump hands together. "I want to marry your father."
Lucy did not express astonishment, as she had understood this for a long
time.
"I guessed as much."
"And what do you say?"
Miss Kendal shrugged her shoulders.
"If my step-father," she emphasized the word--"if my step-father
consents, why should I mind? I am going to marry Archie, and no doubt
the Professor will be lonely."
"Then you do not disapprove of me as a mother."
"My dear Mrs. Jasher," said Lucy, coldly, "there is no relationship
between me and my step-father beyond the fact that he married my
mother. Therefore you can never be my mother. Were I stopping on at the
Pyramids, that question might arise, but as I become Mrs. Hope in six
months, we can be friends--nothing more."
"I am quite content with that," said Mrs. Jasher in a businesslike way.
"After all, I am no sentimentalist. But I am glad that you do not mind
my marrying the Professor, as I don't want you to prevent the match, my
dear."
Lucy laughed.
"I assure you that I have no influence with my father, Mrs. Jasher. He
will marry you if he thinks fit and without consulting me. But," added
the girl with emphasis, "I do not see what you gain in becoming Mrs.
Braddock."
"I may become Lady Braddock," said the widow, dryly. Then, in answer to
the open astonishment on Lucy's face, she hastened to remark: "Do you
mean to say that you don't know your father is heir to a baronetcy?"
"Oh, I know that," rejoined Miss Kendal. "The Professor's brother, Sir
Donald Braddock, is an old man and unmarried. If he dies without heirs,
as it seems likely, the Professor will certainly take the title."
"Well, then, there you are!" cried Mrs. Jasher, in her liveliest tone.
"I want to give my legacy for the title and preside over a scientific
salon in London."
"I understand. But you will never get my father to live in London."
"Wait until I marry him," said the little woman shrewdly. "I'll make a
man of him. I know, of course, that mummies and sepulchral ornaments and
those sort of horrid things are dull, but the Professor will become Sir
Julian Braddock, and that is enough for me. I don't love him, of course,
as love between two elderly people is absurd, but I shall make him a
good wife, and with my money he can take his proper position in the
scientific world, which he doesn't occupy at present. I would rather he
had been artistic, as science is so dull. However, I am getting on in
years and wish to have some amusement before I die, so I must take what
I can get. What do you say?"