She
said she hated herself. And she swore she would never touch a cent of
Tudor's fortune--not even if the fortune went to the Crown in default of
legal representatives.'
'Poor creature!' Hugo breathed.
'However,' Darcy proceeded, 'something had to be done. She was supposed
to be dead, and if her life was to be saved from Ravengar's vengeance,
she just had to continue to be dead--at any rate, as regards England. So
she couldn't go back to England. Now I must explain that my friend Tudor
hadn't left her with much money.'
'That was careless.'
'It was,' Darcy admitted. 'Still, he naturally relied on me in case of
necessity. And quite rightly. I was prepared to let Mrs. Tudor have all
the money she wanted, she repaying me as soon as events allowed her to
handle Tudor's estate. But as she had decided never to handle Tudor's
estate, she had no prospect of being able to repay me. Hence she would
accept nothing. Hence she began to starve. Awkward, wasn't it?'
'I see clearly that she could not come to England to earn her living,'
said Hugo, 'but could she not have earned it in Paris?'
'No,' Darcy replied; 'she couldn't earn it regularly. And the reason was
that she was too beautiful. Situation after situation was made
impossible for her.
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