"Now you can see why it is so important that you should marry a rich man." Jeanne was bewildered.

It was hard to grasp these things which her stepmother was telling her.
"If this be true," she said, "how is it that every one speaks of me as being a great heiress ?" The Princess glanced at her with a contemptuous smile.
"You do not suppose," she said, "that I have found it necessary to take the whole world into my confidence." "You mean," Jeanne said, "that people don't know that I am not a great heiress ?" "Certainly not," the Princess replied, "or we should scarcely be here." "The Count de Brensault ?" Jeanne asked.
"He does not know, of course," the Princess answered.

"He is a rich man.

He can afford quite well to marry a girl without a DOT." Jeanne's head fell slowly between her hands.

The suddenness of this blow had staggered her.