When she ceased there was blank silence.
Mrs.Waltham was the first to find her voice.
'But surely Mr.Eldon won't take everything from you?
I don't think he has the power to--it wouldn't be just; there must be surely some kind of provision in the law for such a thing.

What did Mr.Yottle say ?' 'Only that Mr.Eldon could recover the whole estate.' 'The estate!' exclaimed Mrs.Waltham eagerly.

'But not the money ?' Adela smiled.
'The estate includes the money, mother.

It means everything.' 'Oh, Adela!' sighed Letty, who sat with her hands on her lap, bewildered.
'But surely not Mrs.Rodman's settlement ?' cried the elder lady, who was rapidly surveying the whole situation.
'Everything,' affirmed Adela.
'But what an extraordinary, what an unheard-of thing! Such injustice I never knew! Oh, but Mr.Eldon is a gentleman--he can never exact his legal rights to the full extent.

He has too much delicacy of feeling for that.' Adela glanced at her mother with a curious openness of look--the expression which by apparent negation of feeling reveals feeling of special significance.