It shows how we feel
about you that we are having you here, like this. But we can only do it
if you'll take us as we are."
"Of course I take you as you are," he said aggrieved, "but I don't see
why I shouldn't do my little bit, when it's so easy for me to do it.
People talk such rot about money! They'll take anything in the world but
money from those who--" he hesitated, and then boldly brought out the
word--"love them."
"And yet," said Betty quietly, "you yourself contemptuously rejected the
money that father wanted to give you when he could well afford it--the
day you left Beechfield nine years ago."
He hesitated, unutterably astonished, and yes, very much moved, too, at
this, her first reference to their joint past.
"I know I did," he said at last, "and I was a fool to do it. That cheque
of Mr. Tosswill's would have made all the difference to me during certain
awful weeks in Australia when I didn't know where to turn for a shilling.
I've been right up against it--the reality of things, I mean--and I know
both how much and how little money counts in life. It counts a lot,
Betty."
"I've been up against the reality of things, too," said Betty slowly,
"and I've learnt how very little money counts.
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