She nevertheless stuck to her views, and drove a bargain as keenly and shrewdly as any solicitor could have done for her, to the surprise and exasperation of Mr.Mulready.Had he known that she really loved him, and would, if she had been driven to it, have sacrificed everything rather than lose him, he could have obtained very different terms; but having no heart to speak of, himself, he was ignorant of the power he possessed over her.
Bankruptcy stared him in the face unless he could obtain this increase of capital, and he dared not, by pressing the point, risk its loss.

The terms, he told himself, were not altogether unsatisfactory; it was not likely that she would survive him.

They were of about the same age; he had never known what it was to be ill, and she, although not such an invalid as she fancied herself, was still not strong.

If she did not survive him he would have the whole business, subject only to the paltry annuity of two hundred and forty pounds a year to the three children.
If, the most unlikely thing in the world, she did survive him--well, it mattered not a jot in that case who the mill went to.
So the terms were settled, the necessary deeds were drawn up by a solicitor, and signed by both parties.

Mrs.Sankey recovered her spirits, and the preparations for the wedding went on.
Ned had intended to absent himself from the ceremony, but Mr.Porson, guessing that such might be his intention, had talked the matter gravely over with him.