He makes a business of it, and don't fail one time in
twenty."
"And is it quite certain that Mr. Rupert Hardinge gets all the fortune
of Mrs. Bradfort?" I asked, with a strong effort to seem composed.
"Not the least doubt of it, in the world. Everybody is talking about
it; and there cannot well be a mistake, you know, as it was thought
the sister would be an heiress, and people generally take care to be
pretty certain about that class. But, of course, a young man with that
fortune will be snapped up, as a swallow catches a fly. I've bet Sarah
a pair of gloves we hear of his marriage in three months."
The Brighams talked an hour longer, and made me promise to visit them
at their hotel, a place I could not succeed in finding. That evening,
I left Florence for Leghorn, writing a note of apology, in order not
to be rude. Of course, I did not believe half these people had told
me; but a part, I made no doubt, was true. Mrs. Bradfort was dead, out
of all question; and I thought it possible she might not so far have
learned to distinguish between the merit of Lucy, and that of Rupert,
to leave her entire fortune to the last. As for the declaration of the
brother that he would give his sister nothing, that seemed to me to be
rather strong for even Rupert. I knew the dear girl too well, and was
certain she would not repine; and I was burning with the desire to be
in the field, now she was again penniless.
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