He had a certain fondness for his grandchild, but it never rose to the extent of a genuine interest in her concerns.

Of late she had been to him a valuable chattel--a trump-card, by which he could extract the good things of life out of another.

With Nina he was powerful, without her he was a helpless and penniless old man.

But he did not love Nina because of this.

He was proud of her for what she brought him, proud of her because if he was lowly born she was not.