As I just now told you, I am a poor man, and poor men cannot afford such luxuries as hearts." "Yet poor men have them," says the girl in a little low stifled tone.

"And--and girls have them too!" There is a long, long silence.

To Curzon it seems as if the whole world has undergone a strange, wild upheaval.

What had she meant--what?
Her words! Her words meant something, but her looks, her eyes, oh, how much more _they_ meant! And yet to listen to her--to believe--he, her guardian, a poor man, and she an heiress! Oh! no.

Impossible.
"So much the worse for the poor men," says he deliberately.
There is no mistaking his meaning.