Men looked at each other, and repeated the three startling words, 'Ten thousand pounds!' Driven fairly to the wall, the lawyer made a last effort to defend his position.
'May I ask who made that settlement a condition of the marriage ?' he said.

'Surely it was not the Countess herself ?.' Henry Westwick answered, 'it was the Countess's brother'; and added, 'which comes to the same thing.' After that, there was no more to be said--so long, at least, as Montbarry's brother was present.

The talk flowed into other channels; and the Doctor went home.
But his morbid curiosity about the Countess was not set at rest yet.
In his leisure moments he found himself wondering whether Lord Montbarry's family would succeed in stopping the marriage after all.
And more than this, he was conscious of a growing desire to see the infatuated man himself.

Every day during the brief interval before the wedding, he looked in at the club, on the chance of hearing some news.
Nothing had happened, so far as the club knew.

The Countess's position was secure; Montbarry's resolution to be her husband was unshaken.
They were both Roman Catholics, and they were to be married at the chapel in Spanish Place.