She must put these hopes aside now, for her girls would probably never marry.

They would live on at this dull old Manor until their youth had left them, and their sweet, fresh bloom departed.
Mrs.Bertram thought of the girls, but no compunctions with regard to them caused her to hesitate even for a moment.

She loved some one else much better than these bright-eyed lasses.

Loftus was the darling of his mother's heart.

It was bad to sacrifice girls, but it was impossible to sacrifice the beloved and only son.
Mrs.Bertram saw her solicitors, confided to them her difficulties, and accepted the terms proposed to her by the enemy, who, treacherous and awful, had suddenly risen out of the ashes of the past to confront her.
With four hundred a year she bought silence, and silence meant everything for her.