‘Oh no save me from that.’

’You must understand, then, that I shall pay over to you the sum of fifteen hundred pounds as soon as the will has been proved.’

’I understand nothing of the kind.  I know very well that if I were to take it, I should be accepting a present from you, and to that I cannot consent.’

‘But, Clara’

’It is no good, Captain Aylmer.  Though I don’t pretend to understand much about law, I do know that I can have no claim to anything that is not put into the will; and I won’t have what I could not claim.  My mind is quite made up, and I hops I mayn’t be annoyed about it.  Nothing is more disagreeable than having to discuss money matters.’

Perhaps Captain Aylmer thought that the having no money matters to discuss might be even more disagreeable.  ‘Well,’ he said, ’I can only ask you to consult any friend whom you can trust upon the matter.  Ask your father, or Mr Belton, and I have no doubt that either of them will tell you that you are as much entitled to the legacy as though it had been written in the will.’

’On such a matter, Captain Aylmer, I don’t want to ask anybody.  You can’t pay me the money unless I choose to take it, and I certainly shall not do that.’  Upon hearing this he smiled, assuming, as Clara fancied that he was sometimes wont to do, a look of quiet superiority; and then, for that time, he allowed the subject to be dropped between them.

But Clara knew that she must discuss it at length with her father, and the fear of that discussion made her unhappy.  She had already written to say that she would return home on the day but one after the funeral, and had told Captain Aylmer of her purpose.  So very prudent a man as he of course could not think it right that a young lady should remain with him, in his house, as his visitor; and to her decision on this point he had made no objection.  She now heartily wished that she had named the day after the funeral, and that she had not been deterred by her dislike of making a Sunday journey.  She dreaded this day, and would have been very thankful if he would have left her and gone back to London.  But he intended, he said, to remain at Perivale throughout the next week, and she must endure the day as best she might be able.  She wished that it were possible to ask Mr Possitt to his accustomed dinner; but she did not dare to make the proposition to the master of the house.  Though Captain Aylmer had declared Mr Possitt to be a very worthy man, Clara surmised that he would not be anxious to commence that practice of a Sabbatical dinner so soon after his aunt’s decease.  The day, after all, would be but one day, and Clara schooled herself into a resolution to bear it with good humour.