The sister had come to Marinata in order to persuade her brother, as one of the trustees of her property, to co-operate with her in bestowing some of her money on the French artist, Monsieur Octave Vacherot, to whom, as she calmly avowed, her affections were indissolubly attached, though she did not ever intend to marry him, nor indeed to see much of him in the future.

'I shall never do him the disservice of becoming his wife'-- she announced, with her melancholy eyes full upon her brother--'But money is of no use to me.

He is young and can employ it.' Manisty inquired whether the gentleman in question was aware of what she proposed.

Alice replied that if money were finally settled upon him he would accept it; whereas his pride did not allow him to receive perpetual small sums at her hands.

'But if I settle a definite sum upon him, he will take it as an endowment of his genius.